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LETTERS 

ON 

LANDSCAPE  PHOTOGRAPHY, 

BY 

H.  P.  ROBINSON, 

Author  of  "  Pictorial  Effect  in  Photography,''^     Picture  Making  by 
Photography''  "  The  Studio"  Etc. 

Reprinted  from  "THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  TIMES." 

Revised  by  the  Author. 


NEW  YORK: 
ScoviLL  Manufacturing  Company,  423  Broome  Street. 

1888. 


Copyright,  1888, 
By  ScoviLL  Manufacturing  Company. 
W.  Irving  Adams,  Agent. 


IPubliebere'  preface. 


The  following  letters  were  originally  written 
for  the  columns  of  the  Photographic  Times y 
wherein  they  duly  appeared  throughout  the 
year  1887,  ^^^^  were  received  with  widespread 
interest  and  appreciation.  Their  popularity 
and  real  value  seemed  to  warrant  republica- 
tion in  a  form  more  permanent  and  conven- 
ient than  the  photographic  periodical  in  which 
they  first  saw  the  light,  and  they  are,  therefore, 
again  presented  to  the  photographic  reading 
public  in  their  present  form  and  revised  by  the 
author,  with  confidence  that  they  will  certainly 
meet  the  reception  which  they  truly  deserve. 

These  letters  will  be  found  of  greatest  value 
to  those,  who,  by  their  study  and  practice  of 
photography,  are  enabled  to  produce  a  techni- 
cally perfect  negative,  but  who  do  not  know 
how  to  put  their  knowledge  to  pictorial  use. 
They  are  not  intended  to  point  out  a  royal 
road  to  art,  but  rather  to  act  as  a  stimulus  to 
activity  in  the  search  for  subjects  for  the 
camera,  and  to  teach  how  readiness  of  re- 
source may  help  good  fortune  in  turning 
them  into  agreeable  pictures. 

New  York  City,  October,  1888. 


Contenta. 


PAGE 

No.  I. 

Preliminary,  7 

No.  II. 

Art  in  Photography,  18 

No.  III. 

The  Photographer's  Control  over  his  Subject,  28 
No.  IV. 

The  Choice  of  Subject,  37 

No.  V. 

On  the  Mountain,  48 

No.  VI. 

Various  Subjects,  57 

No.  VII. 

Figures  in  Landscapes,         -      -      -      -  67 
No.  VIII. 

Another  Day  Out,  75 

No.  IX. 

A  Talk  in  the  Billiard-Room,     -      -      -  84 


1IUu6tration0. 


Calling  the  Cows, 

Trespassers, 

Models, 

Gathering  Berries, 
The  Swan, 

Stepping  Stones,  ' 
Gathering  Wild  Roses, 
Artists, 

The  Mill  Door. 


LETTERS  ON 

LANDSCAPE  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


No  I. — Preliminary. 

F^EAR  Blank. — As  these  letters  are  to 
be  published,  I  must  call  you  Blank, 
your  name  as  yet  not  having  any  interest  for 
photographers.  But  we  may  be  permitted  to 
hope  the  time  will  come  when  your  true  appel- 
lation will  be  that  of  a  shining  light  in  the  Art 
which  has  light  for  its  source. 

I  now  propose  to  go  into  the  subject  of 
Landscape,  more  particularly  as  it  can  be 
represented  by  photographic  means.  As  long 
as  you  were  playing  with  toys — ten  dollar  sets 
— I  was  compelled  to  decline  giving  you  any 


8 


PRELIMINARY. 


instructions,  because  I  could  have  been  of  very 
little  use  to  you.  I  have  not  a  word  to  say 
against  these  cheap  sets  of  apparatus,  which 
make  me  wonder  how  they  can  be  made  for  the 
money,  and  I  have  taken,  and  seen  taken  by 
amateurs,  admirable  little  pictures  with  them ; 
but  serious  art  requires  serious  tools,  and 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  less  than  the  best. 
You  have  now,  however,  got  over  the  youthful 
maladies  of  the  art — the  chicken-pox  and 
measles  of  photography — and  you  have  tried 
the  usual  remedies,  such  as  endeavoring  to  find 
a  means  of  photographing  in  color,  and  a  rem- 
edy for  bad  art  in  a  new  developer.  You  have 
also  ceased  to  ascribe  a  lack  of  brilliancy  in 
your  negatives  to  want  of  definition  in  your 
lens.  You  have,  in  fact,  got  over  the  initial 
little  perplexities  and  troubles,  and  are  ready 
to  provide  yourself  with  proper  tools,  so  that 
you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  following  out  my 
instructions,  and  you  will  find  your  work  inter- 
esting. 

You  are  an  amateur  with  leisure,  which  gives 
you  a  great  advantage.  Hard-working  profes- 
sional photographers  can  afford  but  little  time 
for  prosecuting  the  better  parts  of  their  art.  I 
remember  how  surprised  you  were  when  I  told 


PRELIMINARY.  9 

you  that  I  seldom  devoted  more  than  a  fort- 
night in  the  year  to  landscape  photography, 
and  then  had  to  take  my  chance  of  weather. 
But,  after  all,  shortness  of  time  for  actual  work- 
ing has  its  compensations.  I  get  through  a 
great  deal  of  work  in  the  time,  because  I  have 
everything  ready,  everything  cut  and  dried  for 
use.  I  am  always  on  the  watch  for  effects  and 
subjects,  and  ideas  of  all  sorts,  and  jot  them 
down  in  a  pocket-book,  so  that  perhaps  a  sub- 
ject or  scene  is  a  year  or  two  old  before  I  use 
it.  But  I  have  the  subjects  so  handy,"  if  I  may 
so  call  it,  in  my  mind  that  they  are  ready  for 
use  at  any  moment.  And  I  take  care  when  I 
have  my  landscape  holiday  that  everything  shall 
be  in  perfect  order,  not  omitting  the  models 
for  figures,  and  that  nothing  shall  be  doubtful, 
except  the  weather.  It  may  turn  out  bad,  but 
we  trust  the  larger  hope."  Indeed,  even  in 
the  matter  of  the  weather,  we  are  not  so  much 
in  doubt  as  formerly.  We  turn  to  the  meteoro- 
logical reports  in  the  morning  papers  to  see 
what  kind  of  weather  you  are  sending  us  from 
your  side  of  the  water,  and  ''govern  ourselves 
accordingly."  Although  you  never  predict  any- 
thing but  storms,  we  learn  how  to  dodge  be- 
tween them. 


lO 


PRELIMINARY. 


Just  as  the  proverbial  millionaire  began  his 
working  life  with  half-a-crown,  so  has  many  a 
now  well-known  photographer  begun  his  art 
with  a  cigar-box  and  spectacle  lens,  and  it  is 
not  easy  for  the  new  generation  of  photog- 
raphers to  understand  the  difficulties  through 
which  the  beginner  of  thirty  years  ago  had  to 
grope  his  way.  To  a  modern  dry-plate  worker 
it  would  be  like  listening  to  a  foreign  language 
if  I  told  him  of  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the 
collodion  process.  What  does  he  know  of 
comets,  oyster-shell  markings,  and  lines  in 
direction  of  the  dip?  In  apparatus,  also,  the 
early  photographers  had  to  put  up  with  what 
they  could  get,  and  what  was  not  always  very 
convenient  for  use.  Weight  and  French  pol- 
ish seemed  to  be  the  chief  objects  aimed  at 
by  the  makers.  Both  camera  makers  and  op- 
ticians were  very  stiff-necked  in  that  genera- 
tion, and  would  not  allow  that  photographers 
knew  what  they  wanted,  so  the  camera  was 
set  up  almost  as  solidly  as  if  it  were  an  astro- 
nomical telescope,  and  the  lens  was  made  with 
the  definition  of  a  microscopic  objective  with 
the  focus  all  on  one  plane. 

We  have  changed  all  that.  We  can  now 
get  apparatus  and  lenses  adapted  to  our  bet- 


PRELIMINARY. 


II 


ter  known  wants.  Cameras,  especially  land- 
scape cameras,  without  any  loss  of  beauty  in 
their  manufacture,  have  been  made  very  much 
lighter,  and  lenses  are  made  sufficiently  opti- 
cally imperfect  to  diffuse  the  focus  more  in 
accordance  with  what  the  eye  sees.  The  work- 
ers of  the  present  day,  who  are  benefitting  by 
these  improvements,  have  no  idea  of  the  trou- 
ble photographers  of  twenty-five  years  ago 
had  in  persuading  opticians  to  make  lenses 
with  what  they  called  diffusion  of  focus,  be- 
cause, as  the  opticians  thought  they  convin- 
cingly replied,  the  instruments  would  not  be 
optically  perfect. 

And  now  I  come  to  what  you  really  will  re- 
quire. I  take  it  that  you  will  not  give  your 
ambition  at  the  outset  two  great  a  chance  of 
over-leaping  itself  in  the  matter  of  size.  The 
time  will,  I  hope,  come  when  you  will  feel  the 
compelling  influence  of  sufficient  skill  to 
make  your  work  become  visible  in  exhibi- 
tions, and  you  will  feel  you  cannot  do  your- 
self justice  in  a  less  size  than  ii  by  14; 
but  at  present  8  by  10  will  be  large  enough 
for  you.  You  can  put  nearly  as  much  art 
in  a  picture  of  this  size  as  into  one  of 
much   larger    dimensions,  and    the  smaller 


12 


PRELIMINARY. 


size  saves  you  a  lot  of  worry  and  bother  in 
porterage. 

First,  of  the  Camera.  This  essential  tool 
should  be  light,  strong,  and  have  all  the  neces- 
sary movements.  It  must  at  the  same  time  be 
observed  that  in  some  modern  cameras  there 
are  movements  which  are  not  at  all  neces- 
sary, and  appear  to  be  added  only  for  the 
purpose  of  displaying  the  ingenuity  of  the  in- 
ventors. These  clever  machines  defeat  the 
object  for  which  they  are  intended.  If  a 
camera  is  efficient,  it  cannot  be  too  simple. 
With  a  perfect  camera  a  photographer  of 
even  small  experience  knows  how  it  works  at 
once,  and  what  to  do.  The  tripod  stand 
should  be  firm  and  rigid,  as  well  as  light  and 
portable.  This  you  will  easily  judge  for 
yourself. 

The  lens  is  always  considered  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  the  tools  the  photographer  em- 
ploys. So  it  is ;  but  I  should  like  to  say 
boldly  that,  within  limits,  I  do  not  care  what 
make  of  lens  I  use.  It  is  as  well  to  have  the 
best  your  means  will  allow,  but  there  has 
always  been  too  much  made  of  particular 
variations  in  the  make  of  lenses.  It  has  been 
the  fashion  to  think  too  much  of  the  tools 


PRELIMINARY. 


13 


and  too  little  of  the  use  made  of  them.  I 
have  one  friend  who  did  nothing  last  year  be- 
cause he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  buy  a  new 
lens,  and  could  not  determine  whose  make  it 
should  be,  and  he  was  tired  of  his  old  appara- 
tus. His  was  of  the  order  of  particular  and 
minute  minds  that  try  to  whittle  nothing  to  a 
point.  I  have  another  friend  who  takes  de- 
light in  preparing  for  photography,  and  spends 
a  small  fortune  in  doing  so,  but  never  takes  a 
picture.  But  I  am  wandering  from  my  sub- 
ject. You  will  want  a  lens  for  general  use. 
This  should  be  of  the  rapid  rectilinear  form, 
and  should  not  include  too  wide  an  angle. 
The  focus  should  not  be  less  than  13  inches 
for  an  8  by  10  plate.  You  will  find  this  lens 
useful  for  all  ordinary  landscape  purposes 
as  well  as  out-door  groups  and  portraits. 
But  there  are  some  subjects  which  would 
be  impossible  with  a  narrow  angle  lens, 
such  as  interiors  and  subjects  in  confined 
positions  where  you  cannot  get  far  enough 
away  to  include  as  much  as  you  want 
with  the  ordinary  lens.  For  this  purpose 
you  must  have  a  lens  that  includes  a  wide 
angle  of  view.  To  be  quite  complete  you 
should  have  a  iol4  inch  also,  as  well  as  a 


14 


PRELIMINARY. 


single  meniscus,  but  this  is  not  necessary  at 
present. 

I  need  not  go  into  the  question  of  appara- 
tus further.  The  experience  you  have  already 
had  will  have  taught  you  v\^hat  else  you  will 
require,  but  I  have  one  or  two  words  to  say 
on  plates  and  developers. 

Find  one  good  make  of  plate  and  learn  all 
about  it — all  its  peculiarities,  how  long  it 
takes  under  the  developer  before  the  image 
should  appear,  how  long  a  properly  exposed 
plate  takes  to  become  rightly  intense,  and 
how  it  looks — and  stick  to  this  plate.  I  do  not 
say  don't  try  any  other  at  any  time,  but  make 
the  chosen  plate  the  standard.  To  be  con- 
tinually using  different  makes  of  plates  con- 
fuses the  judgment,  and  you  scarcely  know 
where  you  are.  I  do  not  recommend  the 
quickest  plates  that  are  advertised,  because 
some  plates  are  made  so  rapid  as  to  be  un- 
manageable. We  ought  by  this  time  to  be 
able  to  give  the  sensitiveness  of  any  plate  to 
the  sensitometer,  but  I  have  never  known  one 
in  which  I  could  place  the  slightest  reliance. 
Much  confusion  prevails.  One  maker's  30- 
times"  is  quicker  than  another's  **40-times," 
while  the  names  given  to  the  plates  are  most  mis- 


PRELIMINARY. 


15 


leading.  The  plate  I  like  best  and  use  almost 
entirely — that  is,  when  I  am  not  compelled 
to  take  a  very  quick  picture — is  called  by  its 
maker  "Special  Instantaneous,"  but  is  by  no 
means  a  quick  plate,  compared  with  some 
others.  There  is  one  thing  about  which  you 
may  be  quite  sure.  If  the  plate  is  not  covered 
with  a  good  body  of  emulsion — if  it  looks 
thin,  blue,  and  poor — you  will  not  get  the 
best  obtainable  negative  on  it. 

The  last  word  I  have  to  say  in  this  letter  is 
about  developers.  Many  amateurs  try  every 
newly-suggested  modification  of  the  devel- 
oper as  it  comes  out,  and  fritter  away  their 
time  and  muddle  their  brains  with  weights, 
and  measures,  and  homoeopathic  differences 
in  proportions.  My  advice  is — and  I  cannot 
state  it  too  strongly,  particularly  as  you  wish 
to  be  an  artistic  photographer,  and  not  merely 
a  dabbler  in  chemistry — keep  to  one  developer, 
and  let  that  be  as  simple  as  possible.  I  have 
used  one  developer  only  since  I  commenced 
with  dry  plates,  and  have  not  found  any  want 
of  quality  in  my  negatives ;  but  perhaps  I  am 
easily  pleased  in  this  respect.  This  developer 
was  suggested  by  Mr.  B.  J.  Edwards,  and  is 
as  follows  : 


i6 


PRELIMINARY. 


No.  r. — Pyrogallic  acid   i  ounce 

Citric  acid   40  grains 

Water   7^  ounces 

No.  2. — Bromide  of  potassium  120 grains 

Water   7  ounces 

Ammonia  .880   i  ounce 


To  make  the  developer,  take  three  ounces  of 
water  and  add  one  dram  of  No.  i  and  one 
dram  of  No.  2.  This  quantity  should  be  suffi- 
cient to  develop  an  8  by  10  plate.  There  are 
occasions  when  the  quantity  of  No.  2  should 
be  increased  or  diminished.  If  you  prefer  any 
other  developer,  such  as  the  carbonate  of  soda, 
which  is  now  much  used,  I  have  no  objection  ; 
all  I  ask  is,  that  you  should  keep  as  much 
as  possible  to  one  developer,  and  study  it 
thoroughly. 

That  is  all  I  have  to  say  on  the  technical  or 
chemical  side  of  photography,  in  this  place ; 
but  don't  mistake  me.  There  are  those  who 
look  upon  technical  excellence  with  indiffer- 
ence, but  I  would  not  have  you  be  one  of  them. 
While  I  look  upon  great  manipulative  skill  by 
itself  as  good  work  thrown  away,  there  cannot 
be  the  least  doubt  that  bad  workmanship  mars 
good  ideas,  and  it  is  distressing  to  see  beautiful 
conceptions  wasted  by  the  slovenly  way  in 
which  thay  are  sometimes  set  forth.  It  is  for- 
tunate, however,  that  great  mechanical  excel- 


PRELIMINARY. 


17 


lence  is  now  within  easy  reach  of  any  ordinarily 
intelligent  mind.  Plates  and  almost  all  other 
materials  are  now  so  prepared  for  the  use  of 
the  photographer,  that  with  care  and  attention 
to  instructions  it  is  difficult  to  go  wrong.  But 
there  is  this  to  be  said.  The  student  must 
have  a  good  knowledge  of  what  a  negative 
really  ought  to  be.  He  must  also  learn  how 
the  ''values"  of  nature  should  appear  in  a 
print,  and  he  will  find  that  his  mechanical 
means  will  enable  him  to  get  what  he  desires. 
This  power  of  seeing  values  belongs  to  the  art 
side  of  photography,  and  is  not  so  easily  at- 
tained ;  but  what  I  want  to  point  out  is,  that 
when  you  can  ''see,"  there  is  no  great  difficulty 
in  mastering  the  mechanical  means  of  repre- 
senting what  you  see.  I  do  not,  therefore,  go 
into  the  preliminary  chemical  rudiments  of 
photography,  but  assume  your  knowledge,  and 
leave  you  to  perfect  it  from  any  of  the  manuals 
now  published. 


No.  II. — Art  in  Photography. 


A  FTER  several  weeks,  in  which  you  have 
certainly  not  been  idle,  I  have  received 
the  prints  taken  from  negatives  produced  with 
the  new  apparatus,  and  find  them  most  interest- 
ing. They  show  that  you  have  completely 
conquered  the  slight  difficulties  met  with  on 
the  scientific  side  of  photography,  so  wrongly 
thought  by  many  to  be  the  end  of  the  art,  and 
are  now  ready  to  try  to  make  pictures  with  the 
tools  you  have  selected,  as  other  artists  select, 
whether  they  will  use  the  brush,  the  chisel,  or 
the  graver.  Your  prints  show  a  great  approach 
to  mechanical  excellence  ;  they  are  fair  to  see  ; 
they  are  sharp,  clear,  soft,  rich,  of  good  color, 
but  they  are  not  pictures  ;  they  tell  us  nothing, 
there  is  not  an  idea  in  the  lot ;  they  are  dead 
bodies,  admirably  embalmed,  without  a  soul 
amongst  them.  I  speak  very  frankly,  as  I 
could  not  help  gathering  from  your  letter  that 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.  19 

you  think  these  prints,  because  of  their  me- 
chanical excellencies,  approach  very  near  to 
perfection ;  but  I  am  anxious  that  mere  execu- 
tive dexterity  should  not  have  the  first  place 
in  your  mind. 

Touching  this  same  something "  beyond 
mere  mechanical  perfection  in  photographs,  I 
think  I  had  better  say  what  I  have  to  say 
about  it  at  once,  and  get  it  out  of  the  way. 
That  much  vexed  question,  is  art  possible  in 
photography?  has  been  discussed  over  and 
over  again,  yet  I  have  always  been  content  to 
keep  out  of  the  controversy,  and  with  endeavor- 
ing to  show,  however  feebly,  in  my  work,  how 
art  could  be  made  of  it.  I  have  never  called 
myself  an  art  photographer — that  title  is  usually 
usurped  by  those  who  know  nothing  of  art — 
but  have  been  content  and  proud  to  call  my- 
self simply  a  photographer,  thinking  it  better 
to  leave  pretension  to  those  who  pretend. 
Nevertheless,  I  have  always  held  a  very  firm 
belief,  and  had  a  profound  faith,  that  photog- 
raphy used  by  an  artist  produces  art. 

The  lines  of  those  who  now  try  to  put  a 
little  art  feeling  into  their  photographs  are  laid 
in  pleasanter  places  than  were  those  who  made 
the  attempt  a  few  years  ago.    There  are  still 


20 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


some  who  deny  that  anything  artistic  can  be 
done  by  a  photographer,  but  it  is  my  experi- 
ence that  the  best  painters  now  call  the  pho- 
tographer brother"  when  he  deserves  it,  and 
recognize  that  he  can  put  thought,  intention, 
and  even  a  vein  of  poetry  into  his  work — that 
mysterious  something  beyond  the  border  line 
of  hard  fact  which  is  felt  perhaps  more  than 
seen  in  a  picture.  Of  course,  it  is  only  those 
who  produce  art,  in  whatever  material,  who 
should  be  called  artists.  Original  genius  is 
one  of  the  rarest  gifts  in  this  age  of  imitation. 
Anything  absolutely  new  seems  to  be  almost 
impossible.  Emerson  says  :  The  new  in  art 
is  always  formed  out  of  the  old,"  and  unfor- 
tunately some  of  those  original  geniuses  who 
create  their  novelties  out  of  old  ideas  are  not 
unlike  that  divine 

"  Who  took  his  discourse  from  the  famed  Dr.  Browne, 
But  preached  it  so  vilely  he  made  it  his  own." 

It  does  not  seem  to  be  rightly  understood 
what  art  is.  A  man  might  be  a  good  painter 
or  a  good  photographer  without  being  an  artist 
at  all.  A  man  who  paints  is  not  an  artist  be- 
cause he  paints,  or  a  photographer  an  artist 
because  he  photographs.  Both  are  artists 
when  they  can  produce  fine  art  with  either 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.  21 

paint  or  chemicals,  or  any  other  materials. 
The  fact  is  the  critics  have  confounded  the  art 
with  the  operator. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  ninety-nine 
per  cent,  of  the  immense  mass  of  photographs 
produced  year  after  year  have  no  claim  to  rank 
as  art  any  more  than  the  works  of  the  millions 
of  art  students  in  this  country  can  rank  as  art. 
That,  however,  is  no  reason  why  art  cannot  be 
produced  by  the  camera.  Every  candid  per- 
son knows  it  is,  as  usual,  a  question  of  degree. 
Art  has  been  and  is  produced  in  the  camera ; 
the  great  difference  is,  that  it  is  more  difficult 
to  produce  art  with  our  instruments  than  with 
the  brush.  I  should  be  rash  if  I  attempted  to 
define  minutely  what  fine  art  is,  but  I  will  limit 
myself  to  accepting  the  dictum  that  art  is 
the  result,  in  the  first  place,  of  seeing  rightly, 
and,  in  the  second  place,  of  feeling  rightly, 
about  what  is  seen."  I  also  hold  it  true  that 
art  is  interpretation  by  means  of  a  creative 
idea,  and  never  a  stupidly  exact  copy."  There 
are,  of  course,  incapable  photographers,  as 
there  are  incapable  painters,  but  that  is  not 
the  question.  The  question  is,  is  it  possible 
for  a  photographer  to  put  his  own  ideas  into 
his  work,  to  alter,  add  to,  or  modify ;  or  is 


22 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


photography  to  be,  as  Mr.  Mantilini  would 
say,    one  demmed  eternal  grind?" 

The  camera  may  be  a  machine,  if  you  like  ; 
I  will  go  further,  and  admit  that  it  is  a  ma- 
chine, but  you  cannot  be  a  machine  if  you 
would,  and  will  not  be  able  to  prevent  yourself 
putting  yourself  into  your  work  for  better  or 
worse ;  indeed,  there  is  so  much  mannerism  in 
the  work  of  many  photographers,  that  one  who 
is  used  to  studying  photographs  scarcely  re- 
quires the  names  of  the  producers.  A  year  or 
two  ago  I  was  one  of  the  judges  at  an  exhibi- 
tion. The  names  of  the  photographers  were 
not  given  to  us,  but  I  soon  found  we  were  talk- 
ing of  the  pictures  as  the  work  of  So-and-so, 
and  So-and-so,  almost  as  freely  as  if  we  had 
been  supplied  with  the  names. 

I  have  seen  it  argued,  somewhere,  that  the 
charm  and  value  of  art  consist,  in  every  case,  of 
its  difference  from  nature  as  well  as  its  like- 
ness to  it.  There  is  just  a  slight  streak  of 
truth  running  through  the  idea.  The  differ- 
ence is  often  the  root  of  our  enjoyment  ;  old 
facts  are  presented  to  us  in  a  new  way  and  be- 
come more  interesting,  but  when  it  is  claimed 
that  every  step  in  advance  from  the  mirror  or 
camera  to  the  master-pieces  of  painting  and 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


23 


sculpture  is  a  step  of  difference,  we  must  pause. 
When  the  difference "  shows  a  purpose,  an 
idea,  or  a  sentiment,  then  the  piece  that  is  dif- 
ferentiated from  nature  becomes  a  work  of  art. 

There  is  more  common  sense  spoken  about 
art  now  than  there  used  to  be.  There  is  not 
so  much  said  about  the  awe-inspiring  mys- 
teries." The  painter  now  kindly  allows  that 
others  may  care  for  and  be  able  to  see  and  feel 
the  beauties  of  nature.  More  than  twenty 
years  ago,  when  the  opposition  to  art  in  pho- 
tography was  at  its  fiercest,  there  was  a  capital 
article  on  landscape  painting  in  a  now  dead 
review.  Of  course  its  tendency  was  against 
there  being  any  art  in  anything  but  paint.  It 
was  particularly  severe  on  the  Chemical  Me- 
chanic," and  the  author  gives  an  illustration  of 
how  out  of  sympathy  with  nature  the  camera 
is.  His  illustration  depends  on  the  quality  of 
the  photographer  he  introduces.  The  mere 
fact  of  using  a  camera  does  not  put  a  man  out 
of  tune  with  nature.  That  the  exact  opposite 
is  the  fact  would  be  nearer  the  truth.  The 
perfect  and  unadulterated  loveliness  of  the 
conceit,  that  none  but  the  painter  artist  can  see 
and  feel  nature,  is  delicious.  This  is  what  he 
says  : 


24 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


"  To  begin  with  sympathy.  In  the  midst  of 
the  forest  when  you  are  alone,  and  are  begin- 
ning to  hear  the  finer  sounds,  the  turn  of  the 
leaf,  the  thud  of  the  nut,  did  you  ever  feel  as 
if  you  were  an  attraction  there,  as  if  all  were 
drawing  round  you  ?  I  remember,  when  tour- 
ing in  Scotland,  swinging  out  of  a  wood  on  the 
top  of  the  stage  from  Oban,  into  a  wide  space 
of  sea  and  sky,  with  a  glorious  foreground  of 
cattle  and  their  doubles  in  the  lucid  shallows  of 
the  bay  ;  color  so  pure,  so  bright,  so  precious, 
that  it  drew  a  grunt  of  admiration  from  the 
Highlander  on  the  box.  I  was  put  down,  and 
disposed  myself  quietly  in  a  corner  of  the 
wood,  and  was  soon  part  of  the  color,  from  the 
water  to  the  sky.  The  ripple  hardly  broke 
louder  than  my  pulse.  Presently  a  stoat 
bounds  into  the  road,  and  I  had  time  to  ob- 
serve what  enjoyment  of  life  there  was  in  the 
unalarmed,  untamed  step  of  the  creature.  The 
heron  rose  near  me ;  and  as  I  was  beginning 
to  take  it  all  in  with  half-shut  eyes,  and  to  re- 
mark how  the  powerful  tones  of  the  cattle, 
fawn  and  flame  color,  white  and  yellow,  blood- 
red  and  black,  seemed  to  give  infinitude  to 
space,  a  photographer  walks  briskly  before  me, 
and  with  an  air  and  noise  of  satisfaction  begins 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


25 


to  Open  and  adjust  his  box.  I  give  you  my 
word  that  the  look  of  quiet  horror  that  came 
over  the  scene  was  unmistakable — not  horror 
exactly — did  you  ever  remark  the  face  of  a  girl 
when  she  sets  it  ?  It  was  precisely  that.  Not 
only  did  the  stoat  disappear,  but — I  don't  know 
whether  it  was  the  creaking  of  the  machine,  or 
the  business-like  stare  of  the  man — the  cattle 
grew  conscious  and  uncomfortable,  and  it  was 
not  without  satisfaction  that  I  saw  a  mist  creep 
up  from  the  sea,  and  steal  away  the  shimmer 
and  the  charm.  I  left  him  some  cows  lashing 
their  tails,  some  blackthorn  and  Scotch  fir,  and 
the  average  coast  formation." 

All  this  is  very  fancifully  and  prettily  writ- 
ten, and  it  serves  to  show  with  what  contempt 
the  painter  treated  the  photographer  twenty 
years  ago.  This  sort  of  tip-tilting  of  the  nose 
at  photography  as  an  art  is  only  possible  now 
with  fifth-rate  painters,  or  in  the  press,  with 
their  friends,  or  those  who  have  failed  in  art. 

Anyhow,  what  you  have  to  do,  and  what 
other  photographers  have  to  do  who  care  for 
the  status  of  their  profession,  is  to  keep  peg- 
ging away  at  the  production  of  good  pictures. 
Taking  pleasure  in  your  work,  but  never  being 
satisfied ;  being  always  determined  that  the 


26 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


next  picture  shall  be  better  than  the  last,  your 
feeling  for  nature  will  increase  and  become 
more  intense,  and  this  love  for  and  better 
understanding  will  shine  forth  in  your  work. 
As  you  progress  you  will  find  that,  metaphori- 
cally, the  stoat  will  be  no  longer  startled  or  the 
bird  disappear,  the  machine  will  no  longer 
creak,  and — who  knows  ? — you  may  feel  that 
you  are  an  attraction  to  nature,  and  she  may 
draw  all  around  you  as  she  did  around  the 
young  gentleman  who  lay  down  in  the  corner 
of  the  wood. 

You  may  console  yourself  further ;  you  may 
feel  that  photography  has  taught  art  to  artists. 
It  is  acknowledged  that  portrait  painting  has 
enormously  advanced  since  the  introduction  of 
photography.  Painters  are  now  ashamed  of 
the  conventional  absurdities  of  the  pre-photo- 
graphic  days,  when  they  ''had  plenty  of  taste, 
and  all  of  it  very  bad."  The  column  with 
voluminous  curtains  dangling  from  the  skies 
is  now  never  seen. 

Perhaps  the  photographer  has  taught  the 
lesson,  as  the  Spartans  cured  drunkenness, 
by  showing  awful  examples  ;  but  the  lesson 
was  learnt,  and  portrait  painting  is  now  the 
one  thing  we  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  in 


ART  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY. 


27 


English  art.  Photographers  had  nothing  but 
bad  examples  to  follow  in  the  portraiture  of 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  and  most  of  their 
early  faults  in  taste  and  composition  were  due 
to  the  painter's  work,  which  was  then  wor- 
shipped as  art,  and  is  now  looked  upon  with 
contempt. 


No.  III. — The  Photographer's  Control 
Over  His  Subject. 


ET  us  go  into  the  country,  camera  in  hand. 


Here,  at  the  outset,  I  meet  with  a  diffi- 
culty which  places  me  at  a  great  disadvantage. 
I  shall  have  to  refer  to  the  aspects  of  nature, 
and  your  nature  differs,  I  believe,  considerably 
from  the  kind  we  have  in  England,  and  I  can 
only  refer  to  the  scenery  of  this  part  of  the 
world.  I  have  to  confess,  with  sorrow,  that  I 
have  never  been  in  the  States.  I  have  had 
many  invitations  and  a  few  chances,  which  I 
feel  ashamed  of  not  having  accepted,  but  in 
spite  of  Shakespeare's  saying  : 

"  Home-keeping  youths  have  ever  homely  wits," 

I  have  never  been  able  to  tear  myself  away 
from  home,  especially  as  I  feel  it  impossible 
to  disabuse  myself  of  the,  doubtless  erroneous, 
notion  that  the  more  accessible  Wales  con- 
tains in  itself  all  the  elements  of  foreign 
travel — mountain,  lake,  ruin,  rock,  and  river, 
as  well  as  a  most  picturesque  seaboard — be- 


CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 


29 


sides  a  language  which  few  but  born  natives 
can  understand. 

This  is  of  the  less  consequence,  as  when 
you  were  here  at  Tunbridge  Wells  we  took 
many  walks  together  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  when  I  talk  of  heather,  gorse,  and  whin, 
you  will  understand  what  I  mean,  and  turn 
the  application  to  scenes  in  your  own  country. 
Besides,  were  you  not  with  me  during  that  de- 
lightful fortnight  in  North  Wales,  when  it  first 
dawned  upon  you  that  there  might  be  some- 
thing in  the  claims  of  photography  as  an  art  ? 
But  this  came  to  you  only  after  one  of  the  two 
Royal  Academicians,  who  were  of  the  party, 
had  fiercely  advocated  our  cause  (in  which  the 
other,  being  Scotch,  cautiously  agreed),  and 
demonstrated  that  it  was  not  the  material,  but 
the  man,  that  produced  fine  art.  It  was  there 
also  where  Gelligynan,  Llanarmon,  Dwygy- 
fylchi,  Llanfairpwllgwyngyll,  and  other  names 
of  places,  were  too  much  for  your  tongue,  and 
compelled  you  to  quote,  with  your  usual  readi- 
ness, the  lines  from  the  Ingoldsby  Legends  : 

*'  For  the  vowels  made  use  of  in  Welsh  are  so  few, 
That  the  A  and  the  E,  the  I,  O,  and  the  U, 
Have  really  but  little  or  nothing  to  do  ; 
And  the  duty,  of  course,  falls  the  heavier  by  far, 
On  the  L  and  the  H,  and  the  N  and  the  R." 


so  CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 

Above  all — and  to  me  this  is  of  the  greatest 
importance — it  was  there  that  you  were  first 
inspired  to  do  or  die  as  an  artistic  photog- 
rapher, and  determined  to  carry  the  world  with 
a  fifty-shilling  set.  When  you  assisted  me  to 
get  some  pictures  it  seemed  to  you  so  easy  to 
do  my  part  of  the  work,  which  you  said  con- 
sisted principally  in  shouting,  while  you  were 
acting  as  cowboy,  collecting  the  cattle  together 
and  worrying  them  about  until  I  got  the 
three  white  cows  in  exactly  the  position  in 
the  group  I  desired,  and  when  you  defied  the 
big  brindled  bull — like  another  Buffalo  Bill — 
while  I  photographed  him.  A  short  descrip- 
tion of  the  photographing  of  one  of  these 
cattle  pictures — a  type  of  many  others — may 
be  of  interest  to  other  readers  than  yourself. 

It  is  a  much  quoted  proverb  that  every- 
thing comes  to  him  who  waits."  In  this  age 
of  hurry  it  is  not  everybody  who  can  wait — 
it  is  said  to  be  especially  difficult  on  your 
side  of  the  water,  so  perhaps  I  am  suggesting 
something  you  would  find  impossible ;  but  I 
waited  for  this  picture  as  I  have  often  waited 
for  other  subjects.  Two  years  ago  it  struck 
me  that  there  was  the  material  for  a  good 
subject  in  this  bit  of  meadow,  trees,  and 


CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT.  31 

Stream  ;  I  therefore  made  a  rough  sketch  of 
it  in  my  pocket-book,  indicating  the  cattle 
and  the  figure  as  objects  I  must  get  in  some- 
how. I  even  noted  down  the  title,  "  Calling 
the  Cows."  At  that  time  there  were  no  cows 
in  the  field,  but  there  were  some  very  pretty 
calves,  which  the  farmer  told  me  would  not  be 
removed  for  a  year  or  two,  so  I  could  wait  for 
them  to  grow.  At  the  same  time  the  banks 
of  the  stream  were  so  overgrown  with  under- 
wood, and  the  trunks  of  the  trees  so  covered 
with  foliage,  that  the  pretty  glimpse  of  the 
river  was  lost,  and  the  best  part  of  the  picture 
would  have  been  obscured  by  a  dense  mass  of 
alder  leaves.  Orders  were  given  to  have  all 
this  obstruction,  as  well  as  one  of  the  trees, 
cleared  away  during  the  following  winter. 
The  next  summer  the  hand  of  the  hedgerwas 
too  plainly  visible,  and  the  picture  was  allowed 
to  wait  still  another  year  for  the  effect  of  the 
severe  pruning  to  be  outgrown. 

Critics  say  photography  can  have  no  con- 
trol over  nature.  This  erroneous  notion  has 
often  been  confuted ;  nearly  every  photog- 
rapher worthy  of  his  camera  makes  some 
changes  in  the  subject  before  him,  to  show 
that  he  may  make  even  considerable  changes 


32  CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 

in  the  aspect  of  a  scene  I  give  a  view  taken 
from  the  same  spot,  but  with  different  figures 
before  the  alteration. 

Everything  was  ready  last  summer.  The 
calves  had  grown  up  into  young  cows,  and  we 
soon  prepared  a  figure  to  call  them.  What  a 
delightful  morning  that  was  ?  How  you,  with 
two  or  three  other  assistants,  worked  at  get- 
ting the  cows  together  so  that  the  right  colored 
animals  should  come  in  the  right  place,  and 
that  they  should  express  the  feeling  of  being 
called.  How  we  failed  again  and  again,  and 
how  we  got  them  at  last  so  that  I  did  not  find 
anything  in  them  that  I  should  care  to  alter  ? 
Yet  some  people  say  :  How  lucky  you  were 
to  find  such  a  beautiful  group  of  cattle  in 
such  a  picturesque  place  !  " 

''True  ease  in  writing  comes  from  art,  not 
chance ; "  so  also  in  picture-making,  it  is  better 
to  rely  on  the  art  which  you  may  depend  upon, 
than  the  chance  which  may  fail  you.  Touch- 
ing the  figure  calling  the  cows,  do  you  re- 
member the  first  time  you  saw  her?  Do 
you  remember  the  first  day  you  joined  as  I 
took  you  for  a  walk  along  a  rural  lane,  where 
you  were  surprised  to  find  a  poor  girl  in  rags 
hard  at  work  at  a  large  and  masterly  painting 


CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 


33 


in  oils  of  the  scene  before  her?  How  I  said 
nothing,  but  allowed  you  to  admire  and  won- 
der if  this  was  the  ordinary  occupation  of  the 
aboriginal  Welsh  girl,  and  how  astonished  you 
were  when  you  found  the  poor  tatterdemalion 
was  a  clever  lady-artist,  whose  works  are  often 
well  placed  in  the  Royal  Academy  Exhibitions, 
and  who  had  so  often  to  act  as  one  of  my 
models  that  she  found  it  more  convenient  to 
wear  the  clothes  until  we  gave  up  work  for  the 
day? 

It  was  on  this  holiday  you  first  learned  to  see. 
Our  party  consisted  almost  entirely  of  artists, 
and  some  of  them  were  entomologists  and 
botanists,  all  worshippers  of  nature.  The  talk, 
the  thought,  was  all  of  nature  and  how  to  imi- 
tate her,  and  there  you  had  your  first  lessons 
in  noticing,  like  Browning's  Lippo  Lippi, 

"The  shapes  of  things,  their  colors,  lights  and  shades,  changes, 
surprises." 

This  faculty  of  artistic  sight,  or,  indeed,  the 
faculty  of  seeing  anything,  only  comes  with 
training.  The  ordinary  observer  only  takes  a 
superficial  view  of  things.  He  is  sensible  that 
the  view  is  pretty."  He  may  even  go  so  far 
as  to  feel  the  grandeur  of  a  mountain,  but  he 
can  have  no  feeling  of  the  exquisite  sense  of 


34  CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 

beauty  that  appeals  to  the  trained  mind.  The 
artist  can  get  very  real  enjoyment  out  of  ob- 
jects and  sights  in  which  the  ordinary  eye 
would  only  see  the  common-place.  The  aver- 
age man  only  sees  the  most  gaudy  of  the 
flowers  and  butterflies,  the  entomologist  and 
botanist  see  realms  of  beauty  that  do  not  exist 
for  the  other,  and  so  it  is  throughout  all  arts 
and  sciences.  I  will  not  further  enforce  this 
necessity  for  learning  to  see  here,  as  I  shall,  I 
hope,  have  further  opportunities  of  alluding  to 
the  subject.  I  will  content  myself  with  saying 
that  to  see  artistically  you  must  learn  art.  To 
do  this  you  must  learn  what  has  been  consid- 
ered as  the  backbone  of  art  for  all  ages — com- 
position. Of  late  years  it  has  been  the  fashion 
with  a  certain  school  of  painters  to  decry  com- 
position as  artificial,  false,  and  quite  too  old- 
fashioned  for  modern  use ;  but  I  notice  that 
the  more  these  painters  emerge  from  their 
pupilage  state,  the  more  do  their  pictures  show 
that  they  are  glad  to  make  use  of  the  old,  old 
rules.  Rules  were  never  intended  to  cramp 
the  artist's  intellect,  and  I  have  never  advo- 
cated that  the  artist  should  be  the  slave  of  any 
system  ;  but  I  know  the  value  of  what  are 
called  the  Laws  of  Composition  and  Chiaros- 


CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT.  35 

euro,  when  used  as  a  walking-stick  to  help  you 
along,  and  not  as  a  crutch  to  lean  upon. 

It  is  time  we  got  out  the  camera,  so  I  will 
finish  with  what  I  have  to  say  in  this  letter  be- 
fore we  begin  our  work. 

Enjoy  your  work,  or  drop  it.  You  can  never 
do  good  work  as  a  task ;  good  photography, 
perhaps,  but  not  good  art.  One  of  the  best 
things  said  by  William  Hunt,  whose  delightful 
"  Talks  on  Art  "  are  as  much  enjoyed  in  Eng- 
land as  in  his  native  country,  was,  Draw  firm, 
and  be  jolly  ! " 

You  must  enjoy  even  your  failures,  for  one 
of  the  best  teachers  is  failure.    Like  the  poets, 

**  Who  learn  in  suflfering  what  they  teach  in  song," 

the  art  photographer  teaches  himself  by  his 
mistakes,  and  arrives  at  beauty  through  much 
tribulation.  I  don't  ask  you  to  so  far  enjoy 
your  failures  as  to  welcome  them  with  joy 
whenever  they  arise,  but  you  may  rejoice  that 
there  is  something  more  to  overcome,  and 
that  you  will  be  the  better  for  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  don't  be  too  easily  contented.  Art 
is  not  easy,  and  it  is  only  the  incapable  who 
are  always  pleased. 

To  conclude,  I  will  quote  another  William 
Hunt — old  William    Hunt,  the   painter  of 


36  CONTROL  OVER  SUBJECT. 

Bird's-nests,  Primroses,  Country  Life.  His 
advice  used  to  be, 

"Paint  what  you  love,  and  love  what  you  paint." 


No.  IV. — The  Choice  of  Subject. 


S  to  the  choice  of  subject.    A  great  deal 


has  been  claimed  for  the  extraordinary 
range  of  art,  from  the  hues  of  a  cabbage- 
leaf  to  the  sufferings  of  a  Christ."  "  Nay, 
there  is  nothing  that  man  has  ever  dreamed, 
or  hoped,  or  feared,  suffered,  enjoyed,  or 
sinned  in,  which  is  not  a  subject  matter  for 
art,"  says  Mr.  Quilter,  one  of  the  most  acute 
art  critics  of  our  time.  But  all  who  practise 
art  must  appreciate  the  limitations  of  the  par- 
ticular department  of  art  which  they  practise. 
The  painter  in  oil  has  the  widest  range  and 
an  almost  unlimited  choice  of  subjects ;  the 
water-colorist  has  a  narrower  scope,  so  also 
has  the  sculptor ;  and  shall  I  be  wide  of  the 
mark  when  I  say  it  is  left  for  the  photographer 
to  show  the  greatest  ingenuity  in  the  choice 
of  subjects  in  which  to  exhibit  his  skill  as  an 
artist  ? 

The  photographer  should  try  to  understand 
and  be   satisfied  with  the   limitations  with 


38  THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 

which  he  is  "  cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined," 
and  endeavor  to  turn  them  to  his  use ;  or, 
rather,  find  in  the  very  Hmitation  a  certain  fit- 
ness and  use,  because  it  clears  away  a  vast 
number  of  impossible  subjects,  confines  his 
study  in  a  narrower  groove,  and  enables  him 
to  give  more  complete  attention  to  **the 
things  that  are  his." 

We  are  in  the  habit  of  claiming  for  pho- 
tography an  unlimited  range  of  subjects,  from 
the  infinitely  little  to  the  infinitely  remote  ; 
from  the  microscopic  diatom,  dredged  up  from 
the  depths  of  the  ocean,  to  the  infinitely  dis- 
tant nebula  in  star-packed  space  ;  but  there 
are  some  things  that  may  be  possible  which 
are  yet  unaccomplished. 

In  landscape  photography,  which  is  our 
present  sTibject,  there  are  one  or  two  things 
that  have  not  been  done.  For  instance,  have 
you  ever  seen  a  photograph  in  which  one  very 
common  fact  in  nature  is  adequately  repre- 
sented— I  mean  the  effect  of  storm  and  wind 
on  an  inland  landscape  ?  I  say  inland,  be- 
cause such  efifects  are  easy  enough  in  sea  pic- 
tures. The  effect  often  seen  in  pictures  by 
Salvator  Rosa  and  Caspar  Poussin.  The 
bending  and  swaying  branches  of  the  trees, 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 


39 


the  driven  sky,  and  the  fluttering  garments  of 
the  figures.  The  effect  of  wind  is,  unfortun- 
ately, too  often  to  be  found  in  photographs, 
always  to  the  disfigurement  of  the  picture,  but 
no  lightning"  or  "special  instantaneous" 
plate  has  yet  been  made  that  could  enable  us 
to  do  justice  to  the  grand  and  pictorially  fit 
effects  I  have  suggested. 

Then,  again,  I  have  never  seen  a  photograph 
which  gave  me  any  proper  idea  of  mountains. 
Photographs  of  the  Alps  always  remind  me  of 
toy  mountains,  and  I  want  to  see  a  child's 
Noah  s  Ark  on  the  highest  peaks.  Perhaps  it 
is  because  we  now-a-days  make  such  fun  of 
what  were  once  inaccessible  solitudes.  We  go 
up  Ararat  on  a  bicycle,  instead  of  waiting  for 
the  orthodox  flood  as  Noah  did. 

There  is  another  effect  which  has  never 
been  quite  properly  captured.  In  a  mountain- 
ous country,  when  the  sun  has  set  to  the 
observer,  it  still  shines  on  the  mountains. 
The  effect  is  often  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
in  nature,  but  the  non-actinic  color  of  the  sun's 
rays  at  that  time  of  the  evening  has  hitherto 
prevented  anything  like  success  in  photograph- 
ing this  subject.    As  Milton  says  : 

"Yet  from  these  flames, 
No  light,  but  rather  darkness  visible." 


40  THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 

However,  this  is  a  difficulty  that  may  soon  be 
added  to  the  many  conquered  in  the  past. 
Orthochromatic  plates  will  solve  this  problem, 
and  when  you  have  obtained  a  really  fine  ex- 
ample of  the  effect,  here  is  a  title  for  it  (there 
is  a  good  deal  in  a  title)  from  Tennyson's  new 
"  Locksley  Hall,"  but  make  the  picture  worthy 
of  the  line : 

"  Cold  upon  the  dead  volcano  sleeps  the  gleam  of  dying  day." 

This  reminds  one  of  another  important 
thing.  Never  give  your  picture  a  title  it  can- 
not support.  I  like  good  titles.  I  don't  mind 
even  if  there  is  a  bit  of  sentiment — not  senti- 
mentality— in  them,  so  that  it  is  healthy,  and 
the  boundary  between  the  sublime  and  ridicu- 
lous be  not  over-stepped  ;  but  beware  of  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  an  anti-climax.  If  you 
have  a  picture  in  an  exhibition,  and  the  spec- 
tator, before  seeing  your  poor  little  work,  reads 
an  ultra-poetical  title,  with  perhaps  a  verse 
attached  to  it  in  the  catalogue,  his  expecta- 
tions will  be  so  raised  that  when  he  sees  the 
picture  he  may  feel  a  cold  fit  of  disillusionizing 
bathos  come  over  him  that  he  may  remember 
against  you  for  some  time. 

While  I  am  talking  of  titles,  I  may  just  add 
an  illustration  of  how  it  is  possible  to  go 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 


41 


wrong  in  naming  even  the  simplest  subjects. 
I  am  told  that  the  cows  in  the  photograph  of 
which  I  gave  a  reduction  in  my  last  letter 
were  not  cows  at  all,  but  are  what  are  called 
in  Scotland  "  Stirks."  I  am  quite  aware  that 
the  natives  in  that  far-country,  with  an  inde- 
pendence which  is  perhaps  praiseworthy  but 
slightly  puzzling,  call  things  by  names  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  other  parts  of  the  world, 
yet  I  believe  I  am  almost  wrong  in  calling 
these  animals  cows.  Some  of  them  may  attain 
the  dignity  of  cowhood  by  and  by. 

Now  for  subjects  that  are  possible. 

It  is  a  true  saying  that  each  student  must 
discover  for  himself  what  is  beautiful.  It  is 
not  every  kind  of  scene  that  appeals  to  the 
feelings  of  all  alike.  Some  of  us  delight  in 
particular  kinds  of  landscapes,  some  like 
grandeur,  others  are  content  with  quiet  sim- 
plicity. Each  of  us  is  constituted,"  writes 
Mr.  Hamerton,  with,  perhaps,  not  a  few  verbal 
impediments,  ''with  a  special  idiosyncrasy 
related  in  some  mysterious  way  to  a  certain 
class  of  natural  scenery,  and  when  we  find  our- 
selves in  a  scene  answering  to  our  idiosyn- 
crasy, the  mind  feels  itself  at  home  there,  and 
rapidly  attaches  itself  by  affection." 


42  THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 

The  student  may  be  guided  in  his  search 
for  beauty,  but  it  is  not  wise  in  a  teacher  to 
insist  too  strongly  on  what  is  picturesque  or 
the  reverse.  Many  painters  will  make  good 
pictures  out  of  subjects  which  would  seem  to 
be  quite  inadequate  to  others.  Many  of  the 
greatest  landscapes  are  of  the  most  ordinary 
scenes.  What  could  be  more  commonplace 
than  the  scenery  of  Gainsborough's  Market 
Cart,"  Turner's  Frosty  Morning,"  or  any  of 
the  pictures  by  De  Wint  and  David  Cox  ?  A 
writer  I  have  already  quoted  has  written  so 
much  to  the  point  on  this  subject  that  I  can- 
not help  quoting  him  again. 

When  an  old  Greek  made  a  perfect  statue, 
he  made  it  (so  at  least  says  one  school  of 
aestheticians)  with  absolutely  no  feeling,  save 
that  of  enjoyment  of  its  beauty ;  all  other 
meaning,  all  other  emotion,  was  unnecessary. 
He  wished  simply  to  produce  a  beautiful 
thing  ;  he  produced  it,  and  it  was  good.  But 
it  is  a  very  curious  thing  to  note,  though  a 
little  consideration  will  convince  any  art  stu- 
dent of  the  truth  of  the  fact,  that  there  never 
has  been  in  the  world  a  great  school  of  land- 
scape painting,  or  even  a  great  landscape 
painter,  whose  motive  has  been  restricted  in 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT.  43 

like  degree  to  the  beauty,  pure  and  simple,  of 
nature.  Landscape  painters  have  continually 
sought  beautiful  scenes,  and  painted  them 
with  more  or  less  ability ;  but  the  greater 
the  man,  the  more  individual,  the  more  per- 
sonal to  himself,  and  to  men  in  general,  have 
been  his  pictures.  And  so  truly  is  this  the 
case,  that  the  rank  of  great  landscape  painters 
might  almost  be  determined  by  reference  to 
this  fact  alone.  Beauty  sought  per  se  in  land- 
scape has  always  hitherto  destroyed  itself; 
and  people  have  turned  ignorantly  but  deter- 
minedly from  the  compositions  of  snowy  Alps, 
clustered  vines,  and  deep-blue  waters  of  Italy, 
to  gaze  upon  David  Cox's  muddy  lanes,  shel- 
tered by  dark  trees,  beneath  whose  shadow  the 
peasants  plod  wearily  homeward  ;  or  on  a  pic- 
ture of  some  bleak  expanse  of  rain-beaten, 
moorland,  across  which  a  belated  traveler 
struggles  in  the  teeth  of  the  wind." 

Don't  be  so  conceited  as  to  fancy  there  are 
so  few  subjects  sufficiently  important  for  your 
camera.  Of  all  things,  simple  subjects  obtain 
the  widest  sympathy.  Simple  things  appeal 
to  everybody ;  the  commonplace  is  always 
attractive  when  well-treated.  These  simple 
scenes  have  the  advantage  of  exercising  the 


44  THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 

photographer's  picture-making  abiHties  more 
than  the  more  obvious  and  grander  subjects. 
It  is  a  greater  triumph  to  find  beauty  worth 
recording  in  every-day  homely  scenes  than  in 
those  of  which  every  amateur  can  feel  the 
beauty.  Many  a  commonplace  scene,  as  I  hope 
to  show,  requires  only  the  proper  lighting,  and 
perhaps  a  figure  of  the  right  kind  in  the  right 
place,  to  make  it  beautiful. 

Let  us,  in  imagination,  stand  on  this  wide 
piece  of  waste  land,  covered  with  gorse  and 
broom  and  bramble,  and  experimentalize  a 
little  in  "effects."  We  are  on  high  ground, 
and  all  around  us  is  presented  good  middle 
distance  bounded  by  low  hills.  Bits  of  broken 
foreground,  one  of  the  most  important  parts 
of  a  photographic  landscape,  are  to  be  met 
with  everywhere.  Materials  for  pictures  are 
here  in  quantity,  but  there  is  nothing  very 
striking,  nothing  that  shouts  aloud,  Come, 
take  me  !"  Here  is  a  chance  for  selection  and 
treatment.  Subjects  are  so  plentiful,  that  the 
best  picture,  other  things  being  equal,  will  be 
the  one  that  is  best  lighted.  Let  us  stand 
with  the  sun  behind  our  backs  and  observe 
the  scene.  We  find  it,  although  beautiful  in 
itself,  pictorially  flat  and  tame.    The  sunlight, 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 


45 


being  directly  upon  every  object,  affords  no 
shadow.  The  sun,  being  broad  on  everything, 
allows  no  breadth  of  light  and  shadow.  There 
is  no  relief,  no  mystery.  The  equal  illumina- 
tion flattens  all  before  us.  Now  turn  half-way 
round,  and  you  will  have  the  scene  lighted 
from  the  side.  There  is  more  relief,  and  this 
kind  of  lighting  is  very  suitable  to  many  sub- 
jects, but  there  is  still  more  relief  and  still 
more  picturesque  effect  to  be  obtained.  Turn 
so  that  the  sun  is  nearly — not  quite — in  front 
of  you.  Now  we  get  the  utmost  amount  of 
relief,  and  in  this  case  breadth,  for  the  great 
mass  of  gorse  and  junipers  in  shadow,  their 
edges  being  only  just  skimmed  or  kissed  with 
sunlight,  form  a  broad  mass  of  dark  which  is 
opposed  to  a  grand  wedge-shaped  breadth  of 
broken  sandbank  in  sunlight,  which  fills 
nearly  half  of  the  picture.  We  now  only 
want  a  dark  object,  which  shall  be  the  darkest 
in  the  picture,  joined  with,  if  possible,  a 
precious  speck  of  white,  to  put  the  whole 
into  tone,  and  afford  us  all  the  elements  of  the 
picturesque,  balance  of  composition,  breadth 
of  light  and  shade,  and  tone. 

I  want  to  avoid,  if  possible,  going  too  fully 
into  any  part  of  my  subject,  on  which  I  have 


46  THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT. 

written  at  length  in  my  little  handbooks. 
About  composition  and  chiaroscuro  I  have 
said  all  that  is  necessary  in  "  Pictorial  Effect," 
but  there  has  been  so  much  said  about  "  Tone" 
— and,  what  is  nearly  the  same  thing,  ''Values," 
of  late  years,  that  I  may  as  well  have  a  word 
or  two  on  the  subject  here. 

"  Values,"  or  the  right  relation  of  one  shade 
to  another  in  a  picture,  appears  to  be  looked 
upon  by  the  young  school  as  the  newest  and 
most  marvelous  discovery  in  art.  Tone," 
or  the  right  relation  of  one  shade  to  another 
in  a  picture,  is  as  old  as  art  itself.  Some 
people — especially  those  painters  who  call 
themselves  of  the  naturalistic  school — seem  to 
think  this  is  the  only  aim  and  end  of  art.  It 
is  really  only  part  of  the  beginning.  A  picture 
without  tone  can  never  be  pleasing  in  effect, 
but  it  must  contain  a  great  deal  more  than  this 
to  be  effective. 

The  study  of  tone  is  of  more  importance  to 
the  painter  than  the  photographer,  although  a 
knowledge  of  it  is  of  vast  use  to  the  latter.  In 
photography,  tone,  like  drawing,  is  done  for 
the  artist,  if  his  work  is  properly  accomplished, 
and  both  may  be  untrue  if  he  does  not  under- 
stand his  work.    A  scene  may  be  distorted — 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SUBJECT.  47 

put  out  of  drawing — by  a  bungling  use  of  the 
camera  and  lens,  and  the  values  in  a  photo- 
graph may  be  entirely  falsified  by  under  or 
over-exposure  or  development.  A  due  appre- 
ciation of  values,  also,  enables  the  photog- 
rapher to  choose  and  add  to  his  views,  as  I 
have  already  pointed  out  in  selecting  the  scene 
on  the  common.  It  is  especially  useful  in  rela- 
tion to  the  introduction  of  figures.  The  lights 
and  shades  and  leading  lines  of  a  scene  may 
be  all  out  of  tune,  but  the  introduction  of  a 
figure  of  the  right  value  may  ''pull  it  together." 
I  cannot  do  better  than  recommend  you  to 
read  carefully  a  little  book  I  have  already 
quoted,  "Hunt's  Talks  about  Art."  The  au- 
thor is  mad  on  values,  and  goes  far  towards 
making  his  reader  mad  also.  It  is  delightful 
reading,  full  of  quaint  thoughts,  admirable 
advice,  apposite  anecdotes,  sound  sense,  and 
bewildering  contradictions. 


No.  V. — On  the  Mountain. 


JUST  the  day  for  photography  !  The  wind 
^  is  still ;  not  a  breath  shivers  the  delicate 
leaves  of  the  Lombardy  poplars  ;  the  sky  is 
not  quite  cloudless,  for  numbers  of  small 
clouds  float  lazily  over  the  blue,  affording 
varieties  of  lighting,  either  all  sunlight,  all 
shade,  or,  by  careful  waiting  and  observation, 
a  little  of  each — often  useful  when  softness 
and  sparkle  are  wanted  in  the  same  picture. 
I  don't  think  I  can  do  better  than  imagine  you 
are  with  me.  It  may  be,  like  a  legal  fiction, 
most  convenient ;  besides,  you  know  the 
scenery.  Fill  your  slides,  look  over  your 
camera  to  see  that  everthing  is  in  order,  for 
however  sure  you  may  be  that  everything  is 
right,  it  is  always  best  to  have  an  inspection 
before  marching.  To  forget  a  screw,  if  you 
have  a  loose  one,  and  only  discover  your  loss 
when  you  are  miles  from  home,  and  the  view 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN.  49 

before  you  is  "  perfect,"  is  to  promote,  pos- 
sibly suicide,  certainly  profanity.  There  are 
some  things  better  left  at  home  if  you  unfor- 
tunately possess  them.  One  of  them  is  any 
kind  of  actinometer.  I  never  knew  anything 
but  harm  from  this  instrument  when  used  to 
help  to  judge  exposure.  Another  perfectly 
useless  worry  can  be  got  out  of  "  exposure 
tables."  It  takes  all  the  ''go  "  out  of  a  picture 
if  you  have  to  do  a  sum  in  arithmetic  when 
you  ought  to  be  concentrating  all  your  heart, 
and  mind,  and  soul  on  your  subject.  Knowl- 
edge of  exposure  must  come  by  experience  to 
be  of  use.  No  calculations  based  on  length 
of  focus  and  stop  are  of  any  service  to  a  prac- 
tical photographer.  All  other  things  being 
equal — which  they  never  are — they  would  be 
an  infallible  guide,  but  otherwise  they  are 
misleading.  After  the  plate  has  been  exposed, 
and  the  excitement  is  over,  it  would  be  useful 
to  make  a  few  notes  for  further  guidance — 
such  as  kind  of  lens,  stop,  and  length  of  time, 
also  of  the  light  and  nature  of  the  scene. 

Besides  the  apparatus  there  is  another  very 
important  help  to  picture  making,  which  is 
seldom  thought  of — some  models.  It  does 
not  matter  much  what  kind  they  are,  whether 

t 


50 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


old  men,  young  girls,  or  children,  or  mixed  ; 
the  one  thing  of  the  utmost  importance  is  that 
they  shall  be  appropriate  to  the  scene,  for 
there  must  be  no  suggestion  of  sham  about 
the  finished  results. 

The  illustration,  which  was  done  on  a  day 
that  turned  out  unfit  for  good  work  with  the 
camera,  shows  some  of  my  models.  A  painter 
is  making  use  of  one  of  them,  while  two  others 
are  watching  the  artist,  and  another  is  reading 
in  the  foreground.  One  of  the  many  disap- 
pointments which  happen  frequently  to  the  pho- 
tographer is  to  go  out  fully  prepared  to  do  a 
good  day's  work,  and  to  see  the  quality  of  the 
light  collapse  as  he  walks  to  his  ground. 

We  will  have  a  lofty  beginning  to-day.  Let 
us  go  to  the  top  of  the  mountain — Moel-y-plas 
— a  hillock  you  called  it,  with  your  transatlantic 
contempt  for  little  things,  but  it  is  1,442  ft.  8  in. 
high,  according  to  the  minutely  exact  calcula- 
tion of  the  Ordnance  Survey,  and  at  least 
affords  us  that  sense  of  standing  on  a  round 
world  spoken  of  by  the  author  of  Adam 
Bede "  as  one  of  the  out-door  delights  she 
most  cared  for.  Shall  we  find  a  picture  here  ? 
The  hill  is  glorious  with  purple  heather  just 
coming  into  flower ;  green  ferns  and  bracken, 


* 

ON  THE  MOUNTAIN.  51 


mingled  with  the  orange  and  brown  of  last 
year's  decay — new  life  springing  from  death. 
As  we  ascend,  we  startle  a  brood  of  grouse, 
which  goes  whirring  down  the  valley.  We 
need  not  mind  them  now  ;  next  month  their 
turn  may  come.  The  land  dips  into  valleys 
all  around  us  ;  to  the  north  the  lovely  vale  of 
Clwyd,  beyond  which,  afar  off,  is  a  glimpse  of 
the  pale  gray  sea ;  to  the  south,  the  Llanar- 
mon  valley  running  for  miles  in  the  direction 
of  Chester ;  and  to  the  west,  the  grand  range 
of  mountains  known  as  Snowdonia.  We  are 
standing  on  the  oldest  bit  of  Britain,  from  the 
geological  formation  down  to  the  Druids. 
The  scene  calls  up  memories  on  which  every 
Welshman  loves  to  dwell.  There  rise  up  be- 
fore us  in  mental  vision,  Llewellyn  and  his 
dog,  Owain  Glyndwr,  and  King  Arthur  and 
his  round  table  ;  but  this  is  not  what  we  are 
here  for.  The  question  of  the  moment  is, 
Where  are  we  to  point  our  camera  ?  I  cannot 
see  anything  that  will  afford  a  good  subject.  A 
magnificent  view  is  before  us,  palpitating  with 
actuality,"  but  it  is  beyond  our  reach.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  give  any  adequate 
representation  of  those  distant  hills— they 
would  be  dwarfed  into  insignificance,  and,  if 


52  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 

relied  on  to  come  on  the  same  plate  as  the 
foreground,  over-exposed  to  the  verge  of 
blankness.  The  foreground  is  too  insignificant 
in  itself  to  make  a  picture,  and  the  view,  as  a 
view,  consists  of  the  valleys  and  mountains. 
So  we  must  remember  the  limitations  of  our 
art,  and  give  up  the  impossible  ;  but  don't  pack 
up  the  camera,  for  here  comes  our  picture. 
He  is  a  group  of  children,  five  of  them,  gather- 
ing bilberries.  We  will  give  up  the  mountains 
for  the  present,  and  make  a  picture  of  the  chil- 
dren. We  will  send  one  of  our  young  lady 
models  to  make  friends  with  them  and  rub  off 
the  edge  of  their  shyness.  That  she  is  dressed 
in  shabby  clothes  will  be  in  her  favor ;  the 
children  will  be  more  natural  and  familiar  with 
her.  We  will  select  a  spot  where  the  under- 
growth is  not  too  dense,  but  broken  up  with 
plain  patches  of  turf  or  bare  earth.  You  have 
already  made  up  your  mind  roughly  how  the 
group  shall  be  arranged,  and  have  placed  the 
camera  approximately  on  the  right  spot,  and 
focused,  pulling  out  the  top  of  the  swing-back 
before  focusing,  so  as  to  get  greater  depth  of 
definition  from  foreground  to  distance.  The 
more  exact  focusing  may  be  left  until  the  group 
is  nearly  ready. 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


53 


Two  children  to  the  left  of  the  picture,  three 
to  the  right,  and,  to  make  a  principal  point, 
the  trained  model,  not  quite  in  the  middle  of 
the  picture,  but  a  little  to  the  left  of  the  centre, 
and  nearer  the  camera  than  the  others.  Let 
the  principal  figure  be  standing  with  her  left 
arm  outstretched  over  a  large  basket,  looking 
to  the  ground  on  the  left,  as  if  searching  for 
berries.  She,  knowing  what  is  expected  of  her, 
will  not  stand  in  an  awkward  attitude,  resting 
evenly  on  both  feet,  but  you  may  rely  on  her, 
when  you  have  given  her  the  leading  idea,  to 
carry  it  out  instantly.  The  sun  is  shining  to 
the  right  front  of  the  camera,  throwing  out  the 
figure  dark  against  the  distant  mountains,  but 
touched  with  a  brilliant  edging  of  sunlight. 
Take  care  in  exposing  to  lift  the  cap  as  if  it 
were  hinged  to  the  top  of  the  hood  of  the  lens, 
for  it  will  then  act  as  a  sunshade.  If  the  least 
touch  of  sunlight  rests  on  the  glass  during  ex- 
posure, the  plate  will  be  hopelessly  fogged.  It 
is  with  the  children  that  the  trouble  comes. 
This,  however,  we  get  over  with  a  little  pa- 
tience, taking  care  that  each  figure  appears  to 
be  as  unconscious  of  the  camera  as  possible. 
Now  expose  two  or  perhaps  three  seconds. 
.    .    .    That  stupid  child  looked  up,  just  as 


54 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


you  took  off  the  cap,  to  see  why  you  were 
keeping  her  waiting  so  long.  Quick  !  another 
plate  before  she  is  aware  you  mean  another. 
That  is  the  picture.  It  is  often  the  second 
shot  that  brings  down  the  bird. 

To  succeed  with  a  picture  of  this  kind  re- 
quires quickness  of  decision,  and  the  faculty  of 
seeing  at  once  what  ought  to  be  done,  and 
promptly  acting  on  that  insight.  The  photog- 
rapher also  must  be  able,  without  hesitating  or 
waiting  for  words,  to  say,  or  oftener  to  shout, 
the  right  thing  at  the  right  time  to  the  models. 
In  fact,  the  life  of  the  picture  depends  on  your 
doing  absolutely  the  right  thing  in  several 
directions  on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  This 
facility  can  only  be  attained  by  long  practice, 
good  knowledge  of  composition  and  light  and 
shade,  and  keen  observation  of  effect. 

In  the  scene  described  above,  the  figures 
predominate  over  the  landscape.  We  will  now 
reverse  the  effect,  and  the  landscape  shall  be  of 
the  most  importance.  We  won't  give  up  the 
mountain  now  we  have  taken  the  trouble  to 
climb  so  high.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  get  a  good 
picture  by  taking  it  on  two  plates  instead  of  one. 
Some  people  say  that  combination  printing  is 
not  quite  orthodox,  but  whether  it  is  so  or  not, 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


55 


let  us  break  away  sometimes.  It  is  awfully 
dull  to  be  always  correct.  It  is  not  easy  to  an 
active  mind  to  be  satisfied  with  "the  priceless 
merit  of  being  commonplace."  The  difficulties 
of  the  subject  before  us  are  these  :  we  have  a 
near  foreground  of  comparatively  dark  and 
non-actinic  character,  a  blue  sky,  with  some 
small  strongly  defined  clouds,  a  distance  com- 
posed of  gray-blue  mountains,  and  middle  dis- 
tance ;  this  latter  part  of  the  scene,  however, 
is  a  long  way  off.  The  problem  is  how  to 
combine  these  apparently  incompatible  ele- 
ments, giving  the  least  prominence  to  the  fore- 
ground. No  lens  would  get  the  foreground 
and  distance  together  with  anything  like  a 
passable  focus,  and  no  dodging  of  the  exposure 
would  afford  both  the  widely  different  times 
they  would  require.  These  difficulties  are 
easily  surmounted  by  combination  printing. 
Get  the  immediate  foreground  on  the  plate 
with  an  exposure  of,  say,  ten  seconds  (for  you 
will  use  a  small  stop),  and  all  the  other  part 
of  the  picture  on  another  plate,  with  an  ex- 
posure, say,  of  one  second.  These  exposures 
are  only  approximate.  It  would  be  better  in 
practice,  in  taking  the  distance,  to  move  the 
camera  forward  a  little,  so  as  to  take  in  more 


56 


ON  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


than  is  required.  This  will  facilitate  the  join- 
ing. I  have  fully  described  the  various 
methods  of  combination  printing  which  may 
be  of  use  to  the  landscape  photographer  in 
"  Silver  Printing,"  and  it  would  scarcely  be 
worth  while  to  go  over  the  subject  again. 


No.  VI. — Various  Subjects. 


E  did  not  finish  the  day's  work  in  the 


'  last  letter.  Indeed,  we  have  only  taken 
one  picture  and  parts  of  another.  But  if  that 
one  picture  is  right,  we  have  done  a  good 
day's  work.  For  I  do  not  count  the  value  of 
the  day's  work  by  the  quantity  of  pictures 
secured  ;  yet  I,  as  do  all  other  enthusiastic 
photographers,  like  to  get  all  I  can  out  of  one 
of  the  few  days  in  the  year  that  are  perfect  for 
the  practice  of  our  art. 

On  our  way  up  the  mountain  we  passed  a 
small  lake — Llyn  Gweryd — a  wild  tarn  amongst 
the  hills,  on  which  we  have  often  enjoyed 
pleasant  sails  and  rows  in  the  summer  days, 
and  fishing  with  the  long  line  from  the  punt  in 
the  evening  twilight  of  the  days  in  the  photo- 
graphic time  of  year.  Let  us  see  what  kind  of 
picture  we  can  make  of  the  boat-house,  which 
is  a  picturesque,  weather-worn  wooden  build- 
ing, covered  with  decayed  and  moss-grown 
thatch.    We  get  out  the  old  punt,  in  which 


58 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 


there  is  room  for  ten  or  a  dozen  people.  This 
we  draw  to  the  bank  to  the  right  of  our  pic- 
ture, and  it  makes  a  grand  object  for  our  fore- 
ground. It  should  keep  clear  of  the  boat- 
house,  which  is  to  the  left,  and  allow  the  boat 
and  any  figures  we  may  have  to  appear  dark 
against  the  shining  waters  of  the  lake  beyond. 
In  the  middle  distance  is  a  tiny  island  with 
a  tree  or  two  on  it,  and  beyond  a  beautiful 
curve  of  the  banks  of  the  lake,  fringed  with 
low  trees  and  undergrowth,  and  backed  with 
hills  which  are  far  enough  off  to  look  pale  and 
atmospheric.  This  is  not  a  case  for  rustic 
figures,  so  our  models  are  useless.  But  here 
come  some  of  the  lazy  people  from  the  house 
who  find  it  too  hot  to  paint  or  play  tennis.  We 
will  impress  them  into  our  service.  We  will 
take  the  camera  a  sufficient  distance  away  to 
avoid  making  the  figures  too  important.  What 
we  want  is  a  landscape  with  a  little  life  in  it  to 
give  additional  interest.  The  party  from  the 
house  is  coming  nearer.  Don't  let  them  know 
what  you  are  going  to  do.  The  punt  is  so 
placed  that  some  of  them,  with  their  aquatic 
propensities,  cannot  fail  to  jump  aboard.  It 
follows  as  I  said.  One  of  the  men  takes  up 
a  boat-hook  and  walks  to  the  head  of  the  punt 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS.  59 

to  Steady  it  while  the  others  get  in.  Another 
man  now  jumps  in,  and  is  helping  a  lady  to  get 
on  board,  while  several  others  stand  on  the 
bank  waiting  their  turn.  Now  is  your  time. 
Yell  out,  Steady  all,  keep  your  places."  They 
know  what  you  mean,  and  keep  as  they  are 
while  you  make  a  little  alteration  in  the  group — 
not  more  than  you  can  help,  and  without  fuss. 

The  man  with  the  boat-hook  should  put 
some  action  into  his  figure,  and  the  others 
should  be  intent  on  what  they  are  doing ;  but 
don't  exaggerate  ;  don't  let  the  figures  look  as 
though  it  were  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to 
them  to  look  natural. 

Nature  does  not  always  compose.  Awkward 
lines  will  happen  ;  and  there  is  that  stupid  na- 
tive carpenter,  who  has  been  at  work  repairing 
the  boat-house,  and  looks  on  with  wonder  to 
see  what  we  are  doing,  standing  just  where  he 
will  come  in  the  picture.  Take  him  by  the 
arm  and  run  away  with  him.  There  is  no  time 
to  explain,  and  he  will  understand  nothing  less. 
The  camera  should  be  quite  ready.  You  know 
where  all  the  points  are,  and  have  had  time  to 
focus,  arrange  the  swing-back,  and  make  all  the 
other  little  arrangements,  so  that  nothing  is  left 
but  to  expose.    You  cry  out,  "Steady  all!" 


6o  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 

and  in  two  or  three  seconds  you  have  certainly 
secured  a  fine  picture. 

You  could  have  taken  all  this  with  a  drop- 
shutter,  but  let  us  see  what  you  would  have 
missed. 

In  the  first  place,  you  must  have  used  a  large 
aperture  to  your  lens,  and  as  the  figures  must, 
whatever  else  suffers,  be  in  focus,  the  lovely 
distance  would  have  been  blurred  and  dis- 
figured. Now  I  don't  mind  a  part  of  a  photo- 
graph being  out  of  focus  when  necessary,  or 
when  it  is  conducive  to  pictorial  effect ;  but 
this  is  a  kind  of  picture  in  which  moderate  defi- 
nition is  required  in  all  parts.  Just  a  little 
softening  of  the  distance  through  being  slightly 
out  of  focus  would  not  matter,  but  it  must  not 
amount  to  astigmatism,  as  it  would  have  done 
if  the  full  aperture  had  been  used.  But  it  is 
not  the  optical  point  that  is  the  most  important. 
Your  picture  is  now  the  result  of  design,  not 
accident.  For  if  it  had  been  taken  instan- 
taneously without  the  figures  knowing  what 
was  going  on,  it  would  have  been  full  of  faults, 
and  all  the  credit  you  could  have  taken  would 
have  been  for  the  selection  of  the  subject  and 
laying  out  the  punt  like  a  trap  to  catch  the 
figures — all  very  creditable  in  its  way,  but  not 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS.  6i 

complete.  As  it  was,  you  had  to  select  your 
moment,  improve  the  pose  of  the  figures,  re- 
move the  carpenter,  and,  as  I  was  glad  to  see 
you  do,  all  out  of  your  own  head,  alter  the  oars 
on  the  ground  so  that  they  should  not  make 
objectionable  lines,  and  improve  the  composi- 
tion by  arranging  the  heap  of  boat  cushions 
and  shawls  as  a  balancing  point. 

However  tempting  it  may  be  to  take  another 
picture,  with  variations,  of  the  boating  party,  we 
will  refrain.  There  can  be  no  greater  mistake 
than  to  take  several  pictures  much  alike  to  each 
other,  especially  if  you  intend  to  exhibit.  Your 
pictures  become  simply  portraits  of  your  model 
in  various  attitudes,  or  hesitating  efforts,  with- 
out knowledge,  to  get  the  best  of  your  view. 
Always  conceal  the  art  if  you  can,  and  never 
show  your  failures.  Get  all  the  lessons  you 
can  out  of  your  mistakes,  and  then  destroy 
them.  I  once  had  something  to  do  with  an 
exhibition  to  which  a  number  of  beautiful  little 
pictures  were  sent  by  a  clever  photographer  on 
your  side  of  the  Atlantic.  There  was  one  real 
gem  amongst  them,  but  the  artist  had  sent 
several  other  pictures  of  the  same  subject  that 
just  missed  being  perfect.  The  gem  looked 
like  an  accidental  success  amongst  a  lot  of 


62  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 

failures.  I  saw  them  before  the  hanging  was 
completed,  and  took  the  perhaps  unwarrantable 
liberty  of  getting  the  inferior  pictures  removed. 
The  gem  got  a  medal,  which  it  thoroughly  de- 
served, but  which  it  probably  would  not  have 
got  if  it  had  been  surrounded  by  the  various 
attempts  to  attain  success. 

Now  for  another  picture.  Just  to  the  left 
of  the  boat-house,  rising  from  a  bit  of  land  that 
projects  into  the  lake,  are  two  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  the  graceful  silver  birch,  called  here 
the  "  lady  of  the  woods."  The  leaves  of  this 
tree  are  seldom  still.  To-day,  when  all  Nature 
seems  hushed  in  repose,  affords  us  an  oppor- 
tunity we  must  not  neglect.  This  must  be  an 
upright  picture.  No  figures  will  be  necessary, 
for  the  water-lilies,  now  in  blossom,  and  the 
reflections,  will  give  us  all  we  want  to  make  up 
the  foreground.  We  shall  not  require  any 
help  from  the  swing-back.  The  sun  is  nearly 
full  on  the  trees,  which,  in  this  instance,  is  not 
unsuitable,  and  will  give  you  a  chance  for  a 
quick  exposure.  A  trout  was  rising  a  few 
minutes  ago  in  the  clear  patch  of  water  between 
the  lilies.  Wait  a  little  while  on  the  bare 
chance,  and  see  if  you  can  secure  the  surface 
rings  he  makes  on  the  water.    There  he  is, 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS.  63 

and  you  were  in  time  with  the  exposure.  I  be- 
lieve you  will  find  them  in  the  negative,  but  if 
not  it  will  be  no  great  matter,  as  the  picture 
ought  to  be  good  enough  without  them.  The 
lesson  I  want  to  inculcate  is,  never  miss  a 
chance. 

I  see  at  a  little  distance  down  the  valley  a 
shepherd  gathering  his  flocks  on  the  hill-side. 
The  large  mass  of  sheep  huddled  together 
ought  to  afford  material  for  a  good  picture. 
Let  us  walk  towards  them.  Here  is  a  pretty 
sight !  The  shepherd  is  greatly  assisted  in  his 
labors  by  his  collie,  who  appears  to  understand 
every  word  and  motion  of  his  master,  and  I 
notice  that  the  old  dog  is  teaching  a  young  one 
his  business.  This  is  a  most  interesting  sight ; 
I  have  only  seen  it  once  or  twice  before.  These 
Welsh  collies  are  the  most  intelligent  dogs  in 
the  world.  See  how  the  old  one  runs  round 
the  sheep,  and  then  stands  at  gaze  on  the  high 
ground  to  see  that  all  is  going  well  and  that  no 
sheep  strays.  Notice  how  the  young  dog  is 
giving  his  mind  to  his  lesson.  Now  the  old 
dog  runs  in  among  the  sheep  and  detaches 
about  a  dozen  of  them,  then  barks  to  the 
younger  dog  to  bring  them  back.  He  has 
done  this  to  give  his  pupil  some  practice.  We 


64  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 

must  secure  this  scene,  if  we  expend  the  re- 
mainder of  our  plates  on  it.  We  will  place  the 
camera  on  the  rising  ground  opposite  ;  the  back 
horizontal  and  the  focusing  glass  swung  back, 
for  our  subject  gradually  recedes  from  us.  The 
broken  hedge  and  the  little  rill  between  us  will 
give  a  good  foreground.  Put  in  a  middle-sized 
stop,  for  there  is  no  great  depth  of  focus  re- 
quired that  the  swing-back  will  not  correct,  and 
the  exposure  must  be  quick — just  on  and  off  of 
the  cap — or  the  picture  may  be  spoilt  by  one 
or  two  of  the  many  sheep  bolting.  I  may 
state  here,  as  a  general  rule,  that  it  is  better 
to  have  a  little  loss  of  definition  through  using 
a  large  stop,  than  to  have  disfiguring  blurs 
through  long  exposure.  For  all  that,  I  like  a 
rather  long  exposure  when  I  can  get  it  with 
safety. 

Wait  until  the  dogs  and  shepherd  stand  to 
take  another  look  at  their  flock,  then  expose. 
I  believe  you  have  got  them,  but  try  another 
plate  to  make  sure  ;  you  may  never  again  have 
such  another  subject. 

We  have  a  couple  of  plates  left,  so  will  re- 
turn to  the  lake.  We  must  have  a  general 
view  of  the  whole  piece  of  water.  We  see  it 
in  a  totally  different  aspect  to  that  of  the  morn- 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS.  65 

ing.  The  wind  is  now  beginning  to  stir  ;  the 
clouds  are  gathering  over  the  far  end  of  the 
lake,  leaving  a  vivid  break  reaching  to  the 
horizon.  The  breeze  is  also  beginning  to  stir 
the  surface  of  the  still  water  in  little  puffs,  a 
pretty  effect  easily  secured.  The  near  water 
is  broken  up  by  picturesque  groups  of  sedges 
and  deep-green  horsetails,"  degenerate  de- 
scendants of  the  gigantic  Equisetum  of  which 
our  coal  measures  are  largely  composed.  Al- 
though there  is  sunshine  on  the  foreground, 
the  distance  is  in  gloomy  shadow  from  the 
lowering  clouds.  The  feeling  or  sentiment  of 
this  aspect  of  the  lake  is  distinctly  solitude, 
which  should  be  carried  out  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. The  figure  of  a  heron  standing  silent, 
solitary,  on  that  point  in  the  foreground,  just 
clear  of  the  rushes,  where  his  dark  form  would 
show  as  a  precious  spot  of  dark  against  the 
white  reflection  of  the  rift  in  the  clouds,  would 
tell  splendidly  in  the  picture  ;  it  would  be  a 
grand  illustration  of  how  tiny  a  point  in  a 
composition  would  be  the  making  of  it.  This, 
however,  cannot  be.  Many  herons  visit  the 
lake,  but  it  would  be  one  of  the  thousand  to 
one  chances  that  sometimes  occur  to  the  pa- 
tient photographer — who  ought,  however,  not 
to  trust  to  chance  for  his  effects.    He  may  and 


66  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 

must  take  advantage  of  the  accidents  of  nature, 
but  if  he  plays  to  win  miracles  he  must  expect 
to  lose  this  time.  Here  the  painter  has  one  of 
his  many  advantages  over  us.  He  could  easily 
put  the  bird  in  at  home — and  so  could  we  by 
double  printing.  One  almost  feels  inclined  to 
run  down  to  the  house  and  get  out  that  old 
stuffed  heron  that  has  ornamented  the  hall  so 
long,  but  the  critics  would  call  this  illegitimate 
— if  they  found  it  out — though  what  difference 
a  knowledge  of  how  a  picture  was  done  should 
affect  in  the  Art  value  of  that  picture  I  never 
could  discover.  In  exposing  this  view  of  the 
lake,  it  would  be  well  to  lift  the  cap  slowly,  as  if 
hinged  to  the  top,  and  lower  it  slowly  ;  by  this 
means  the  foreground  will  get  more  exposure 
than  the  sky,  and  you  will  save  the  clouds. 

Now,  as  all  our  plates  are  exposed,  and  the 
afternoon  is  far  advanced,  let  us  get  home  and 
forget  photography  for  the  day,  if  we  can 
accomplish  that  almost  impossible  feat.  We 
shall  doubtless  find  the  others  of  our  party  on 
the  tennis-lawn,  as  it  has  become  cool  enough 
for  a  game  before  dinner — dinner  always  fol- 
lowed by  those  discussions  in  the  billiard-room, 
chiefly  on  art  and  kindred  subjects,  you  so 
much  enjoyed,  and  of  which  I  may,  perhaps, 
give  you  a  sample  in  a  future  letter. 


No.  VII. — Figures  in  Landscapes. 


rHEN  I  left  you  we  had  just  taken  a  view 
^  ^  in  which  we  sadly  wanted  a  heron.  Our 
artistic  instincts  craved  for  that  long-legged 
bird,  but  it  was  denied  to  us.  By  the  intro- 
duction of  the  heron  the  picture  would  have 
been  raised  from  insignificance  to  a  position  of 
some  importance  ;  it  would  have  shown  inten- 
tion, acquired  a  meaning,  been  sensibly  im- 
proved in  sentiment,  and  the  proprieties  of 
composition  would  have  been  observed ;  yet 
we  did  without  the  figure  rather  than  use  a 
stujffed  one  which  we  had  at  hand,  and  which, 
if  used,  could  not  have  been  distinguished  in 
the  print  from  the  live,  feathered,  fish-eating 
biped.  From  a  miserable  fear  of  being  found 
out  we  spoilt  our  picture.  We  refrained  from 
doing  something  which  nobody  would  have 
detected,  and  which,  to  blissful  ignorance, 
would  have  been  harmless — nay,  very  good 
— because  we  were  afraid  of  the  critics.  How 


68  FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES, 

useful  critics  are  to  keep  us  guiltless  of  decep- 
tion ! — and  that  is  the  only  moral  I  can  find 
in  it. 

Even  a  bird — and  a  live  one,  too — may 
sometimes  be  made  to  pose  as  the  balancing 
point  in  a  photograph.  I  once  selected  the 
corner  of  a  small  piece  of  water  as  a  good  sub- 
ject, if  I  could  only  get  a  point"  of  light  or 
dark  in  the  right  place  on  the  water.  A  boat 
was  not  available,  but  there  was  a  solitary 
swan  that  appeared  to  be  very  much  interested 
in  what  we  were  about.  After  playing  with 
him  and  throwing  him  biscuits  for  nearly  an 
hour,  I  got  him  to  the  place  where  he  was 
wanted,  when  he  steadied  himself  in  expecta- 
tion of  more  crumbs. 

At  the  time  of  exposure  a  puff  of  wind 
ruffled  part  of  the  water  and  greatly  improved 
the  effect  by  giving  surface,  as  the  reflections 
give  depth.  The  swan  makes  a  very  small 
point  in  the  picture,  but  is  invaluable  to  the 
effect.  I  won't  go  into  the  reason  why.  You 
have  read  my  little  book,  "  Pictorial  Effect  in 
Photography,"  in  which  I  have  gone  fully  into 
the  subject  of  the  balancing  point.  I  would 
rather  that  you  should  now  know  and  feel  that 
the  picture  is  made  by  the  swan.    Imagine  the 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES.  69 

scene  without  the  swan,  and  you  will  at  once 
see  how  little  there  is  in  it.  All  this  is  much 
more  apparent  in  the  photograph  than  in  the 
little  illustration. 

This  would  be  a  convenient  time  for  me  to 
enter  a  little  into  the  question  of  figures  in 
photographic  landscapes.  In  one  of  his  de- 
lightful papers,  written  always  with  rare  humor, 
and  nearly  always  with  sound  sense,  my  friend, 
Mr.  Andrew  Pringle,  gives  many  reasons  why 
the  photographer  should  not  attempt  to  intro- 
duce figures.  Writing  in  the  British  Journal 
of  Photography ,  he  says  : 

A  very  crucial  test  of  a  man's  artistic  power 
is  his  selection  and  arrangement  of  figures  in 
a  landscape.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  hypercriti- 
cal, and  the  stone  I  throw  hits  myself  often, 
but  I  must  say  that  in  ninety-nine  out  of  every 
hundred  landscapes  with  fig  ures  that  I  see,  the 
figures  ruin  the  whole  affair.  They  are  inap- 
propriate figures,  inappropriately  dressed,  in- 
appropriately occupied,  inappropriately  posed, 
inappropriately  and  wrongly  placed,  and  in 
most  cases  would  be  better  at  home  in  bed. 
Wherever  figures  are  in  a  landscape  picture, 
they  are  sure  to  catch  the  eye ;  if  they  are 
near  the  camera,  the  eye  can  with  dif^culty 


70 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES. 


look  beyond  them  ;  if  they  are  at  a  moderate 
distance,  they  irritate  and  distract,  unless 
treated  with  the  greatest  skill ;  if  at  a  great 
distance,  they  look  like  defects  in  the  plate  ;  if 
they  appear  near  one  side  of  the  picture,  they 
are  in  almost  all  cases  fatal ;  while  in  the 
middle  they  are  almost  invariably  mischievous. 
I  have  never  myself  learned  properly  to  arrange 
figures  in  a  landscape,  and  I  prefer  sins  of 
omission  to  those  of  deliberate  commission,  so, 
as  a  rule,  I  leave  figures  out,  and  among  the 
photographers  of  the  world  I  cannot  count 
more  than  three  or  four  who  ever  use  figures 
perfectly,  and  not  one  who  is  always  happy  in 
his  arrangement.  Among  the  hundreds  of 
landscape  negatives  with  figures  in  my  posses- 
sion, not  one  satisfies  me  in  this  respect,  while 
most  of  them  are  actually  criminal  in  their 
ugliness.  The  commonest  faults  are  (i) 
Making  the  figures  so  important  that  one  can- 
not say  whether  the  ''subject"  of  the  picture 
is  a  landscape  or  a  figure  subject ;  (2)  Making 
the  figures  so  small  as  to  distract  and  harass 
the  eye,  and  to  produce  a  sensation  of  super- 
fluity ;  (3)  Putting  figures  in  without  any  con- 
nection with  the  landscape,  or  where  figures 
are  not  wanted  at  all." 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES. 


71 


The  writer  gives  one  excellent  reason  for 
figures  in  landscapes,  which  should  be  all-suffi- 
cient to  the  enthusiastic  photographer.  He 
says  that  to  introduce  figures  properly  requires 
the  greatest  skill,  and  is  a  ''test  of  a  man's 
artistic  power."  Ordinary  photography  is  so 
easy  and  so  entirely  mastered  down  to  its 
chemicallist  depths  by  Mr.  Pringle,  that  he 
should  be  rejoiced  to  find  there  is  still  some- 
thing left  to  call  for  his  reserve  powers.  I 
agree  with  much  that  my  friend  says.  It  does 
too  often  happen  that  the  figures  are  inappro- 
priate to  the  last  degree — wrongly  dressed, 
wrongly  occupied,  wrongly  placed.  All  this 
only  shows  that  there^  is  a  good  deal  of  art- 
ignorance  and  want  of  taste  amongst  photog- 
raphers, and  that  the  great  thing  they  really 
want  is  art-teaching.  What  is  the  use  of  all 
their  fine  manipulation  if  they  cannot  turn  it 
to  a  good  use  ?  All  photographers  strive  to 
get  beautiful  gradation  in  their  negatives  ; 
this  is  the  one  bit  of  art  beyond  which  they  do 
not  attempt  to  go.  Why  cannot  they  go  fur- 
ther, a  step  at  a  time,  until  they  really  learn 
how  to  "put  squadrons  in  the  field?"  That 
figures  attract  the  eye  is  true — it  is  one  of 
their  chief  functions ;  that  they  irritate  and 


72 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES. 


distract  is,  as  Mr.  Pringle  justly  says,  from 
want  of  skill  in  the  artist  ;  but  how  they  can 
be  especially  fatal  when  they  appear  on  one 
side  of  the  picture  puzzles  me ;  figures  are 
often  very  useful  at  the  side.  Their  quality, 
though  small  in  size,  will  often  balance  mere 
quantity  on  the  other  side.  For  an  illustra- 
tion of  this  see  the  little  picture,  "  Calling  the 
Cows,"  in  Letter  No.  3.  Mr.  Pringle  would 
probably  call  this  composition  ''juist  a  wee 
ae-sidet,"  but  to  my  eye  the  mass  of  trees  to 
the  right  is  perfectly  balanced  by  the  greater 
pictorial  value  of  the  cows  to  the  left.  To 
leave  out  figures,  to  prefer  sins  of  omission  to 
sins  of  commission,  is  not  worthy  of  the  pluck 
I  know  Mr.  Pringle  possesses. 

Mr.  Pringle  points  out  the  "  commonest 
faults  ; "  my  answer  as  a  teacher  is,  don't  com- 
mit them.  Not  that  I  think  the  first  of  them 
a  very  great  defect.  I  don't  know  whether  it 
is  necessary  to  anybody  but  a  statician  to  know 
whether  a  picture  is  a  landscape  or  a  figure 
subject.  If  it  is  interesting,  it  will  give  suffi- 
cient pleasure  without  being  tabulated. 

A  landscape  without  a  figure  in  it  can  seldom 
claim  rank  as  a  picture.  I  have  taken  the 
trouble  to  look  through  the  exhibition  of  the 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES.  73 

Royal  Academy  for  examples  of  pure  land- 
scape without  figures,  and  have  found  very 
few — not  one  per  cent.  I  call  to  mind  one  or 
two  fine  exceptions,  of  which  Millais'  "  Chill 
October  "  is  the  chief,  but  their  beauty  depends 
almost  entirely  on  the  splendid  power  of  execu- 
tion. They  do  not  translate  well  into  black 
and  white,  and  can  therefore  be  no  guide  to 
the  photographer.  Of  course  there  are  some 
scenes  which  come  under  the  head  of  land- 
scape in  which  figures  would  be  inappropriate 
or  impossible,  such  as  some  aspects  of  Niagara, 
yet  in  one  view  of  this  tremendous  scene  I 
have  seen  a  tiny  steamer  which,  by  contrast, 
added  immensely  to  the  realization  of  the 
majesty  of  the  mighty  rush  of  water,  and  I 
have  seen  others  in  which  the  impertinence  of 
the  figures  have  made  me  sorry  that  photog- 
raphy was  ever  discovered.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  ''combining  the  aspects  of 
nature  with  the  doings  of  man  "  is  at  the  root 
of  all  great  landscape,  whether  painted  or  pho- 
tographed. I  grant  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain 
good  models,  but  it  is  a  difficulty  which  can  be 
surmounted.  Then,  again,  I  am  often  told  by 
young  beginners  that  they  cannot  think  of 
incidents,  cannot  find  anything  for  their  figures 


74 


FIGURES  IN  LANDSCAPES. 


to  do.  All  I  can  say  is,  these  things  will  come 
by  constant  study,  and  the  more  subjects  an  in- 
telligent photographer  may  use  up,  the  more 
will  come  to  him.  Ideas  seem  to  come  with 
practice.  John  Stuart  Mill,  who  had  more 
ingenious  ways  of  making  himself  miserable 
than  any  dozen  other  pessimists,  used  to  reflect 
on  a  time  when  all  musical  combinations  would 
be  exhausted ;  and  the  artist  also  may  look 
with  apprehension  to  the  time  when  all  pos- 
sible subjects  may  be  used  up.  But  he  need 
not  fear.  It  may  be  said  of  nature  as  of 
Cleopatra — "  Nothing  can  stale  her  infinite 
variety." 


No.  VIII. — Another  Day  Out. 


IT  may  be  worth  our  while  to  take  just  one 
more  walk  with  the  camera.  There  is  that 
lonely  lane,  famous  for  its  wild  roses,  and  the 
river,  and  the  mill,  and  more  particularly  the 
miller.  New  and  useful  experience  is  obtained 
from  every  picture  you  make,  if  you  study  the 
subject  earnestly,  and  put  all  you  know  into 
the  representation  of  it. 

As  it  is  near  at  hand,  we  will  begin  with  the 
lane,  and  I  know  at  least  one  subject  there  that 
is  properly  lighted  at  this  time  of  the  day. 
Climbing  over  a  stile  we  come  to  a  picturesque 
part  of  the  lane  where  a  small  stream  meanders 
along,  while  dotted  across  the  stream  is  placed 
a  row  of  stepping  stones  beautifully  varied  in 
their  forms.  These  stones  are  to  be  the  subject 
of,  and  give  name  to,  our  picture.  The  sun 
shines  from  the  side,  but  slightly  in  front  of  us, 
casting  the  shadow  of  part  of  the  hedge  over 
the  foreground,  throwing  up  the  stepping-stones 


76 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


— our  subject — into  brilliant  light.  The  scene 
as  we  now  see  it  is  pretty,  but  it  is  not  a  pic- 
ture, it  is  only  good  material  for  a  picture.  It 
is  even  badly  composed.  There  are  several 
parallel  lines  running  in  the  direction  of  the 
stones.  This  must  be  corrected.  We  must 
have  a  figure,  and  the  place  for  a  figure  is 
obvious.  We  have  brought  a  model  with  us. 
On  the  way  she  has  amused  herself  gathering 
ferns,  and  is  carrying  the  great  fronds  over  her 
shoulder.  Get  her  to  cross  the  stones,  and 
call  her  to  stop  at  the  right  spot  and  remain  in 
the  act  of  stepping.  Try  again  and  again 
until  you  are  satisfied  with  the  action  of  the 
figure.  Don't  be  afraid  of  giving  trouble  ;  she 
is  here  only  to  obey  your  command  ;  you  may 
obey  hers  when  she  changes  her  dress.  In 
her  present  capacity  she  would  take  any 
trouble  to  help  you,  or  she  is  not  worthy  of 
her  office.  Don't  you  see  how  that  dark  hat  she 
is  wearing  is  lost  in  the  dark  hedge  behind  it  ? 
It  is  essential  to  make  the  figure  stand  well  out 
from  its  background,  therefore  change  the  hat 
for  a  lighter  one,  which  you  will  find  in  the 
basket  of  odds  and  ends  of  rustic  costume  we 
always  carry  with  us.  Now  you  will  find  that 
the  figure  has  converted  a  scene  not  worth 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


77 


photographing  for  itself  into  a  picture.  The 
composition  is  corrected,  the  parallel  lines  are 
broken  and  are  no  longer  prominent,  the  eye 
is  centered  on  a  principal  object.  I  almost 
think  you  may  exhibit  this  picture  if  you  do 
not  muff  it  in  development.  Expose  an  extra 
plate  for  fear  of  accidents. 

Going  up  the  lane  we  turn  and  find  this 
scene.  The  scene  is  well  composed  in  itself, 
and  the  lines  of  pathway  are  so  varied  and 
picturesque  that  we  won't  hide  them  by  plac- 
ing a  figure  in  front  of  any  part  of  them,  al- 
though a  small  figure,  some  way  down  the 
lane,  would  be  effective.  However,  we  elect 
to  have  the  figure  rather  nearer,  for  the  sake 
of  the  blossoms.  She  shall  be  gathering  wild 
roses,  which  will  give  us  a  title.  Now  when 
you  are  doing  a  thing  it  is  as  well  to  do  it 
thoroughly,  therefore  I  recommend  you  to 
gather  some  more  branches  of  roses  and  add 
to  the  rather  scanty  supply  growing  in  the 
place  for  our  figure.  The  girl  must  appear  to 
take  interest  in  what  she  is  doing.  In  this  case 
the  upper  part  of  the  dress  would  have  been 
more  effective  if  not  so  dark  in  color,  but  we 
have  neglected  to  bring  a  lighter  jacket. 

We  come  to  the  mill  just  in  time  to  catch 


78 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


the  miller  feeding  his  two  calves,  and  they  fall 
easy  victims  to  our  camera.  A  little  way  up 
the  river  is  one  of  the  artists  painting,  and 
another  of  the  boys  looking  on.  They  happen 
to  be  in  exactly  the  right  place,  so  we  will  not 
disturb  them.  Say  nothing  to  them.  They 
will  pretend  not  to  notice  what  you  are  about 
—professional  etiquette,  I  suppose — but  they 
see  what  you  are  going  to  do,  and  will  be 
quite  still  all  the  same.  This  suggests  that 
some  subjects  must  be  shouted  to,  and  others 
left  to  themselves. 

Don't  omit  to  have  a  shot  at  that  splendid 
group  of  cows  cooling  themselves  in  that  quiet 
pool.  Half  of  them  in  sunshine,  the  other 
half  in  shadow  from  the  trees  and  bank,  they 
make  a  fine  effect  of  light  and  shade.  Be 
quick,  but  don't  be  in  a  hurry ;  there  is  nothing 
gained  by  going  ofi  your  head.  Above  all, 
don't  be  tempted  to  under-expose.  In  this 
subject  there  is  great  contrast  of  light  and 
dark,  and  it  is  essential  that  the  cows  in 
shadow  should  be  very  well  defined,  to  give 
transparency  and  depth  to  the  shadow,  and 
that  the  lights  should  not  be  chalky.  This  can 
only  be  secured  by  sufficient  exposure.  If  you 
blow  a  dog  whistle  just  before  you  are  going 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT.  79 

to  expose,  you  will  find  it  will  sufficiently 
attract  the  attention  of  the  cows  without 
making  them  move  away.  It  may  even  have 
some  effect  on  their  whisking  tails,  which  are 
always  a  nuisance. 

We  are  again  in  luck.  Here  comes  material 
that  must  suggest  a  grand  picture  for  our  final 
effort  to-day.  Let  us  call  up  all  our  forces. 
The  miller's  donkeys  are  coming  up  to  be 
loaded  with  great  bags  of  flour  for  his  boy  to 
deliver  to  some  of  the  villagers.  The  miller  is 
always  our  friend,  and  will  do  anything  to 
oblige  us,  so  that  we  don't  take  up  too  much 
of  his  time.  Range  the  two  donkeys  up  to 
the  mill-door,  put  some  bags  and  the  boy  on 
one,  and  let  the  miller  be  loading  the  other. 
See  that  he  does  it  with  vigor.  What  more 
natural  than  that  a  couple  of  passing  girls 
should  stop  to  observe  the  interesting  opera- 
tion and  have  a  chat?  We  have  two  models 
with  us,  who  are  soon  in  their  places.  It  so 
happens  that  the  gamekeeper  who  accom- 
panies us  to  carry  our  camera  and  plates  is 
coming  up  the  river ;  stop  him  in  the  act  of 
walking  before  he  gets  up  to  the  group. 
His  dark  figure  is  in  the  right  place  to  carry 
the  eye  into  the  landscape,  where  in  the  distant 


8o 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


meadow  among  the  trees  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river  I  see  some  cattle,  but  I  fear  they 
will  come  too  much  out  of  focus  to  be  of  much 
use.  Your  models  now  all  know  their  duty, 
and  the  only  doubtful  part  of  the  problem  is, 
will  the  donkeys  be  still  ?  It  is  of  very  little 
use  trying  to  attract  the  attention  of  these 
animals,  so  your  only  chance  is,  in  fact,  to  take 
your  chance,  and  several  plates. 

In  this  case  the  figures  are  larger  than  is 
usual  in  landscape,  and,  perhaps,  not  large 
enough  to  make  what  would  be  called  a  figure 
subject.  It  may  be  either,  or  anything  you 
like  to  call  it,  so  that  it  makes  a  picture. 
There  is  much  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  what 
is  a  landscape.  I  once  took  a  medal  for  genre 
with  a  picture  that  contained  only  three  small 
figures  in  a  large  landscape.  This  was  at  an 
exhibition  where  the  exhibits  were  strictly 
divided  into  classes,  and  the  selection  must 
have  been  left  to  the  porters. 

I  don't  know  that  it  would  serve  any  good 
purpose  to  go  through  other  scenes  with  you 
at  present.  Every  picture  you  do  should  be 
the  outcome,  first,  of  a  deliberate  purpose  ; 
secondly,  of  the  operator  availing  himself  of 
every  accident.    These  latter  differ  with  every 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


8 


subject.  I  should  like  to  impress  upon  you 
before  we  part  that  the  world  is  full  of 
beauty.  This  is  an  evident  platitude,  but 
it  is  not  so  evident  that  there  is  beauty 
in  almost  everything ;  it  depends  on  how 
you  look  at  it.  It  does  not  follow  that  every 
beautiful  thing  would  make  a  picture.  A 
great  deal  that  is  beautiful  in  nature  is  far 
from  adapted  to  pictorial  treatment.  I  remem- 
ber you  once  said  to  me  that  a  good  deal  of 
this  so-called  beauty  was  not  visible  to  you. 
That  was  probable  ;  you  had  not  learnt  to  see. 
You  also  posed  me  by  asking  me  what  beauty 
I  could  see  in  chimney-pots. 

At  the  time  I  really  had  no  reply.  I  could 
not  defend  chimney-pots,  but  it  happens  I  have 
since  had  a  grand  opportunity  of  studying 
these  useful,  but  not  very  attractive  objects. 
Perhaps  I  may  be  allowed  to  relate  the  per- 
sonal experience,  possibly  more  interesting  to 
myself  than  to  others,  when  I  found  that  a 
little  mist,  aided  by  as  much  imagination  as  is 
within  nearly  anybody's  reach,  give  beauty — 
even  grandeur — to  the  much  maligned  chim- 
ney-pots. It  depends  on  how  you  look  at  it. 
Anybody  who  likes  to  think  so  has  a  good  look 
out,  even  if  his  view  is  only,  like  Dick  Swivel- 


82 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


ler's,  an  uninterrupted  view  of  "Over  the 
way." 

It  was  my  unhappy  fortune  in  the  early  part 
of  1886,  to  have  to  lie  on  my  back  for  some 
weeks,  after  a  remarkable  exploit  in  vivisection 
of  which  I  was  the  victim,  in  an  upper  room  at 
the  back  of  a  large  house  in  one  of  the  London 
squares.  There  was  a  large  plate-glass  window 
overlooking  a  spacious  court,  in  which  were 
some  low  buildings  with  flat  roofs  of  lead,  the 
back  of  some  old  dilapidated  houses,  and  a 
splendid  collection  of  chimney-pots,  amongst 
which  the  chirpy  London  sparrows  held  carni- 
val. As  many  a  London  photographer  will 
remember,  there  was  scarcely  a  day  in  town 
during  January  and  February  of  that  year  that 
was  not  foggy,  the  nature  of  the  fog  varying 
from  a  delicate  silvery  gray  mist  on  some  days, 
through  drizzle,  sleet,  Scotch-mist,  pea-soup, 
to  the  blanket  of  the  dark  "  of  Macbeth,  and 
the  absolute  darkness  of  collied  night "  on 
other  days.  Thus  thinly  or  thickly  obscured, 
the  view  underwent  every  variety  of  pictur- 
esque change.  The  chimneys  sometimes  be- 
came towers  and  castles  ;  the  otherwise  ugly 
and  ignoble  backs  and  roofs  of  houses,  rocks, 
and  mountains— the  scenery  of   the  Rhine 


ANOTHER  DAY  OUT. 


83 


without  the  river  ;  and  when  the  lead  roofs  be- 
neath were  wet  with  rain,  it  was  not  difficult 
to  imagine  the  scene  where — 

"  The  castled  craigs  of  Drachenfels 
Frown  o'er  the  wide  and  winding  Rhine." 

Sometimes  the  rare  gleams  of  the  low  sun 
struggled  through  the  houses  and  illuminated 
the  mist,  then  the  backyard  became  a  scene  of 
enchantment,  and  when  a  touch  of  delirium 
came  on,  as  it  would  now  and  then,  the  cloud- 
capp'd  towers  and  gorgeous  palaces  of  Shake- 
speare were  nothing  to  compare  with  the 
mystic  view.  There  is  much  pictorial  virtue 
in  mist ;  even  fog  may  be  beautiful,  in  the 
right  place. 

I  have  seen  that  backyard  since  on  a  clear 
summer  day,  and  all  the  beauty  had  vanished 
with  the  mystery  of  the  fog  and  mist.  Per- 
haps, also,  I  was  in  better  health. 

Corot,  the  most  poetical  of  the  French  land- 
scape painters,  is  said  to  have  seen  a  great 
deal  to  like  in  a  London  fog,  and  I  know 
nothing  to  surpass  in  fairy-like  beauty  a  still, 
misty,  silver-gray  day  in  the  country,  with  a 
dash  of  sunshine  on  the  foreground. 


No.  IX. — A  Talk  in  the  Billiard-Room. 


T  PROMISED  I  would  give  you  something 
*■  like  a  report  of  one  of  the  discussions  that 
take  place  at  night  in  the  billiard-room  during 
our  annual  visit  to  Wales.  I  fear  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  recall  any  particular  night,  there- 
fore you  must  be  content  with  a  ''blot"  or 
*'  impressionist  memory  "  of  several.  A  smok- 
ing chat,  well  mixed  with  chaff,  is  not  easily 
reportable  or  profitably  readable,  so  I  will 
omit  a  good  deal  that  may  not  be  interesting 
or  teach  you  anything. 

White  :  Our  photographer  was  painting  to- 
day ;  how  did  he  get  on  ? 

Black  :  I  was  much  complimented  by  the 
miller,  who  takes  an  acute  interest  in  art.  His 
great  desire  is,  he  says,  to  go  to  London  to 
see  all  the  pictures  in  the  Tower.  He  had 
never  seen  me  painting  before,  and  it  gave  him 
great  satisfaction.  He  said  in  his  best  Anglo- 
Cambrian,  ''Ah  !  you  do  do  them  by  hand,  too. 
It  is  well  when  a  man  can  turn  his  hand  to 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 


85 


anything.  You  do  yours  by  machine  mostly, 
and  can  make  many,  but  it  takes  the  other 
gentleman  a  long  time  to  do  them  by  hand !" 

White  :  Ante  up  the  product. 

Black  :  There  is  the  interesting  and  valu- 
able result.  Speak  your  mind,  Brown,  you  are 
a  great  painter ;  but  as  is  often  the  case  with 
great  painters,  now-a-days,  you  don't  know 
much  about  art,  but  we  will  take  your  opinion 
on  the  smudgery  part  of  it. 

Brown  :  Oh  !  I  can't  be  bothered  with  such 
juvenile  efforts.  You  ought  never  to  waste 
good  oil-colors.  Turn  it  upside  down  and 
begin  another  if — and  only  if — you  can't  find 
something  better  to  do.  But  why  do  you 
bother  yourself  with  paint  ? 

Black  :  Eliger  Goff  says,  When  a  man 
forgets  his  first  mother  it's  time  for  him  to  be 
born  again,"  and  this  is  not  the  first  time  I 
have  painted. 

Gray  :  The  Renaissance  was  a  healthy  time 
for  art. 

Black  :  The  appositeness  of  the  application 
excuses  the  interruption.  I  don't  see  why  I 
should  not  paint  occasionally  ;  I  acknowledge 
that  disuse  of  the  brush  has  made  it  more  diffi- 
cult for  me  to  express  my  thoughts  in  the  easier 


86  A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 

vehicle  than  with  the  camera.  There  was  a 
time  when  painting  was  easier  to  me  than  pho- 
tography, and  I  don't  know  now  which  is  the 
less  difficult,  the  machine — as  the  miller  calls 
it — or  the  brush  ;  if,  indeed,  the  brush  also  is 
not  a  machine. 

Gray  :  We  are  all  machines  in  our  way. 
We — even  we  painters — we  can  own  it  among 
ourselves,  are  all  adepts  at  turning  on  steam 
and  stoking.  It  is,  perhaps,  shameful,  but 
nevertheless  true,  that  we  are  most  of  us 
manufacturers.  As  I  read  in  a  provincial  paper 
the  other  day  :  "  The  great  painter  turns  out 
so  many  pictures  a  year,  just  the  same  as  the 
machine  turns  out  so  many  legs  and  backs. 
All  his  materials  are  provided  for  him,  and  are 
very  convenient.  His  tubes,  his  easels,  his 
fanciful  brushes,  his  arrangements  of  light,  all 
simplify  the  task  for  him  ;  and,  perhaps,  as  he 
sits  and  paints,  a  faint  dream  crosses  his  mind 
of  a  happy  day  when  artists  will  paint  portraits 
by  electricity,  playing  them  out  on  the  keys  of 
a  piano-like  instrument."  The  writer  should 
have  made  exception,  but  I  am  afraid  he  is 
right  in  the  main. 

White  :  Really,  Gray,  I  wonder  how  you 
can  be  so  dreadfully  candid.  Success  has  made 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM.  87 

you  reckless.  It  does  not  do  to  exhibit  your 
thoughts  in  the  nude  in  that  barefaced  manner  ; 
you  should  clothe  them  a  little.  It  is  positively 
indecent  to  talk  as  you  are  doing. 

Brown  :  Especially  now  we  have  got  the 
public  to  believe  that  painters  are  the  only 
poets  in  art ;  and  that  Black  here,  with  his 
machine,  isn't  in  it. 

Gray  :  You  know  I  don't  agree  with  you 
there.  I  have  always  maintained  that  there 
were  art  possibilities  in  photography.  The 
difficulty  has  been  in  the  ease  of  the  process. 
The  art  work  of  the  few  in  photography  has 
been  swamped  in  the  rubbish  of  the  million. 
All  men  are  not  born  to  play  Bach's  fiddle 
fugues,  as  Browning  somewhere  says,  and  it  is 
reserved  for  the  few  to  get  the  right  tune  out 
of  the  camera  box.  Photography  has  not  had 
time  enough  to  produce  a  large  crop  of 
geniuses.  There  are  those  who  think  that 
really  great  geniuses  in  painting — an  old  art 
like  that — are  only  lately  born,  and  that  only 
we,  the  latest  seed  of  time,"  know  anything 
about  it.  I  am  an  old-fashioned  painter  my- 
self, and  don't  believe  it. 

Brown  :  Well,  I  think  we  are  showing  them 
how  to  do  it,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  so. 


88  A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 


Black  :  Thy  modesty's  a  candle  to  thy 
merit." 

Brown  :  Go  to  !  irreverent  youth.  Tell  me 
if  anything  has  ever  been  seen  in  art  like  some 
of  the  suggestions  of  nature  some  of  us  give 
you  ? 

Black  :  Never !  Small  things  were  never 
done  so  greatly,  so  few  great  things  done. 

Brown:  Your  emphatic  ''never"  scarcely 
sounds  like  applause.  Let  us  see  what  the 
others  have  been  doing.  Ah  !  Gray  and 
White  have  been  painting  the  same  scene. 
Both  of  the  pictures  are  like  the  subject,  but 
they  are  a  long  way  from  looking  like  each 
other.  This  shows  how  man's  mind  comes  in. 
The  photographer  cannot  do  that  with  his 
boxes. 

Black  :  Can't  we  ?  As  usual,  you  are  per- 
versely ignorant  of  what  we  can  do.  I  never 
yet  saw  two  photographs  of  a  scene  that  were 
alike,  and  if  I  saw  two  by  different  men,  and  I 
had  been  accustomed  to  their  work,  I  could 
tell  you  who  had  produced  which. 

Gray  :  Different  people  see  differently  and 
translate  what  they  see  differently,  it  is  aston- 
ishing to  how  great  a  degree.  Ask  any  two 
men  to  describe  the  effect  of  no  rain  for  forty 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM.  89 

days.  One  will  go  from  Charing  Cross  to 
Yokohama  to  describe  it ;  the  other  will  just 
walk  round  his  garden  and  do  it  better. 

Black  :  That  is  what  I  claim  for  Photog- 
raphy. 

White  :  Take  it,  and  be  happy. 

Brown  :  Both  sketches  are  good.  White's 
only  wants  the  details  of  the  trees,  which  he 
can  easily  get  from  one  of  Black's  photographs, 
to  make  it  a  finished  picture. 

Black  :  Just  like  you  painters  ;  everybody's 
property  is  your  own.  You  only  look  on  pho- 
tographs as  something  you  may  possibly  pur- 
loin. I  totally  differ  on  this  subject.  Why 
should  the  photographer  play  jackal  to  the 
painter's  lion,  and  collect  scraps  for  him  ?  The 
photographer  should  be  above  this,  and  make 
complete  pictures  for  himself.  I  would  no 
more  copy  another  man's  photograph  than  I 
would  his  sketches.  I  don't  mind  painters 
refreshing  their  memory"  with  photographs, 
but  there  are  some  who  are  not  ashamed  of 
stealing  complete  and  perfected  ideas.  They 
soothe  their  honor  by  persuading  themselves 
that  the  photograph  is  not  the  work  of  man 
but  of  nature,  and  nature,  they  say,  is  open  to 
everybody.    I  am  often  pirated.    Once  there 


go  A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 

appeared  in  one  of  the  London  galleries  a 
large  painting,  copied,  ''lock,  stock,  and  bar- 
rel," from  one  of  my  photographs.  After  I  had 
kicked  up  the  demon's  own  row,  and  threatened 
to  claim  the  painting,  as  I  could  do  under  the 
Copyright  Act,  the  painter  apologized  for  the 
*' inadvertence !  "  Ancient  Pistol  said,  ''Con- 
vey the  wise  it  call,"  but  the  modern  art 
euphemism  for  making  a  mistake  in  the  owner- 
ship of  property  is  "inadvertence." 

White  :  Do  you  object  to  painters  photo- 
graphing ? 

Black  :  I  no  more  object  to  painters  taking 
photographs  and  copying  them  than  I  would 
object  to  their  making  sketches  with  a  pencil 
for  the  same  purpose  ;  but  he  must  be  a  very 
experienced  painter  with  a  fine  memory  for 
color  who  could  make  a  good  use  of  photo- 
graphs. It  must  be  very  deleterious  practice 
for  the  young,  immature  student.  He  had 
much  better  keep  to  nature  and  draw  and 
think  for  himself.    Now  for  Brown's  picture. 

Brown  :  There  it  is.  If  you  see  anything 
worthy  of  your  approbation  you  can  put  your 
hands  together,  but  don't  wake  the  house. 

Black  :  It  reminds  me  of  the  criticism  of  a 
famous  R.A.  on  your  last  year's  great  effort. 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM.  91 

'*and  he  had  so  much  promise!"  Take  it 
away. 

Brown  :  It  is  not  composed  artificially 
enough  to  suit  Black.  A  picture  is  not  a  pic- 
ture if  not  composed,  or  I  have  read  what  he 
has  written  on  the  subject  wrongly.  Compo- 
sition is  not  the  whole  of  art. 

Black  :  I  agree  with  Brown  for  once.  Chalk 
it  up.  In  the  endeavor  to  be  simple  and  clear, 
I  believe  I  am  often  too  definite  and  precise. 
Many  people  think  that  I  am  trying  to  teach 
art  when  I  am  struggling  to  give  them  some 
notion  of  composition  and  light  and  shade.  It 
is  nothing  of  the  sort.  I  know  perfectly  the 
distinction  between  the  means  and  the  end.  I 
am  afraid  I  am  sometimes  wearisome  in  the 
way  I  explain  that  rules,  and  laws,  and  prin- 
ciples are  only  the  skeleton  of  art,  and  not  the 
living  soul ;  yet  dense  fellows,  like  Brown,  will 
misread  me. 

Gray  :  The  principles  of  composition  are 
the  principles  of  common  sense,  and  run 
through  all  the  doings  of  civilized  life — from  a 
picture  or  building  to  a  dinner  or  a  company 
of  friends.  These  annual  holidays  of  ours,  for 
instance,  have  been  going  on  for  twenty  years, 
and  how  harmonious  they  have  been  ! — never 


92  A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 

a  hitch  anywhere.  This  is  all  due  to  skilful 
composition.  The  components  were  selected 
and  put  together  by  an  artist  who  understood 
composition.  We  have  balance,  contrast,  light 
and  shade — and  havn't  we  our  "  values  ?  "  The 
result  is  a  harmonious  whole. 

Brown  :  Ingenious,  but  too  gaudy.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  what  you  pho- 
tographers do,  that  you  claim  to  be  artists  and 
judges  of  art. 

Black  :  Everybody  is  a  critic  now-a-days,  so 
why  not  photographers  ?  Touching  the  other 
part  of  your  question,  we  invent,  we  select,  we 
modify,  we  execute.  What  more  do  you  want  ? 
Modern  painters  do  little  more.  We  confess 
there  are  many  things  we  cannot  do.  We  do 
not  aspire  to  such  subjects  as  "  The  Last  Judg- 
ment," or  the  Battle  of  Waterloo."  We  have 
the  sense,  which  painters  have  not,  to  avoid 
such  impossibilities.  But  we  can  do  many 
things.  If  nature  does  not  suit  us,  we  can 
alter  nature,  just  as  a  painter  does. 

White  :  Your  alter-native  is  to  alter  nature  ? 

Black  :  Yes,  if  nothing  short  of  a  pun  will 
suit  you,  we  even  alter  the  natives  when  they 
do  not  suit  us  raw,  or  provide  substitutes  for 
them.    Like  that  grim  Earl  Doorm  we  read 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM.  93 

of  in  the  Idylls  to-day,  we  compel  all  things  to 
our  will.  See  the  changes  I  have  had  made  in 
the  river  to  suit  my  work. 

Brown  :  It  is  not  every  photographer  who 
can  lay  waste  a  country  side  for  the  sake  of  his 
pictures. 

White  :  And  call  it  art ! 

Black  :  I  only  want  to  show  our  resources. 
I  do  not  advocate  an  indiscriminate  felling  of 
timber.  I  could  go  into  details  touching  in- 
vention, etc.,  and  how  we  can  modify  nature, 
also  how  we  can  modify  our  execution  of  it — 
what  you  would  call  treatment " — but  it 
would  be  the  old  tale  over  again  ;  we  have  had 
it  over  a  score  of  times.  You  all  agree  with 
me,  but,  being  excellent  draughtsmen,  you  love 
to    draw  "  the  photographer. 

Gray  :  Whether  he  is  an  artist  or  not,  we 
must  all  agree  that  his  affection  for  art  reminds 
us  of  that  ardent  lover  who  worshipped  the 
very  smoke  that  came  out  of  his  mistress' 
chimney. 

Brown  :  Perhaps  the  analogy  is  nearer  than 
you  intend.  You  imply  that  the  photographer 
gets  no  nearer  the  flame  of  art  than  the 
smoke. 

Black  :  It  certainly  seems  to  come  under  the 


94 


A  TALK  IN  THE  BILLIARD-ROOM. 


head  of  contentious  matter,  but  I  am  content 
to  accept  the  compliment  Gray  intended.  I 
am  not  to  be  drawn  any  further.  I  feel  that 
my  verdancy  begins  to  assume  a  russet  hue. 
I  am  not  so  green  as  I  have  been.  Good 
nieht. 


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PJotes  and  PJews— Editorial  Notes,  and  gleanings  from  current  literature. 
Correspondence— Scientific  and  practical  discussion  of  important  and  interesting  questions, 

by  practical  photographers,  and  letters  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  by  intelligent  and 

observing  correspondents. 
lUeetingfS  of  Societies— Stating  date  and  place  of  meeting  of  all  Photographic  Societies, 

both  professional  and  amateur,  and  giving  full  proceedings  of  all  meetings. 
Our  Kditorial  Table— Reviews  of  books,  exchanges,  and  impartial  criticism  and  notice  of 

all  photographs  sent  in. 

Queries  and  Answers— Answers  by  the  Editors  to  correspondents  in  search  of  knowledge. 
Commercial  Intelligrence— Description  of  new  photographic  appliances,  studio  changes, 
business  notices,  etc.,  etc. 

A  PARTIAL  LIST  OP  WEITEES  TO  THE  PHOTOGEAPHIO  TIMES. 


R.  E.,  F. 


England. 


Capt.  W.  de  W.  Abney 

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G.  Watmough  Webster,  F.C.S.      ...  " 

Arnold  Spiller   " 

W.  Jerome  Harrison,  F.  G.  S.,      .     .     .  " 

Prof.  W.  K.  Burton  Japan. 

Andrew  Pringle,  Scotland. 

Charles  Scouk,  Vienna. 

Dr.  Mallman,   " 

Karl  Schwier,  Germany. 

Victor  Schumann,  " 

W.  J.  Stillman   Rome. 

Dr.  H.  D.  Garrison  Chicago. 

S.  W.  Burnham,   " 

Henry  L.  Tolman,    " 

Gayton  a.  Douglass,       ....  " 
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Gustav  Cramer  St.  Louis. 

Prof.  Wm.  H.  Pickering,      .      .  Harvard  Observatory. 

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George  Eastman,  Rochester 

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John  Carbutt,        ......  Philadelphia. 


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s.  h.  horgan  

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THE 

American  Annual  of  Photography 


AND 

"Photographic  Times"  Almanac 
For  1887. 

C.   W.   CANFIELD,  Editor. 


A  STAOIRD  BOOK  OF  REFEREIOE. 


It  contains  five  full-page  illustrations  : 

AN  EXQUISITE  PHOTOGRAVURE,  by  Ernest  Edwards. 
A  BROMIDE  PRINT,  by  the  Eastman  Company. 

A  SILTER  PRINT,  by  GustaT  Cramer,  of  St.  Loais. 

TWO  MOSSTYPES,  by  the  Moss  Engraving  Company. 

19  7  pages  of  Contributed  Matter,  consisting  of  articles  on  various 
subjects,  by  80  representative  Photographic  writers  of  this  country 
and  Europe. 

Also,  in  addition  to  the  contributed  articles  : — Yearly  Calendar.  Eclip- 
ses, the  Seasons.  Church  Days,  Holidays,  etc.  Monthly  Calendar,  giving 
Sunrise  and  Sunset  for  every  day  in  the  year  ;  Moon's  phases  ;  also,  dates 
of  meetings  of  all  American  Photographic  Societies.  A  list  of  American 
and  European  Photographic  Societies.  Photographic  Periodicals,  Ameri- 
can and  European.  Books  relating  to  Photography,  published  1886.  Ap- 
proved Standard  Formulae  for  all  processes  now  in  general  use.  Tables 
of  Weights  and  Measures.  American  and  Foreign  Money  Values.  Com- 
parisons of  Thermometric  Readings.  Comparisons  of  Barometric  Read- 
ings. Symbols  and  Atomicity  of  the  Chemical  Elements.  Symbols, 
chemical  and  common  names  and  solubilities  of  the  substances  used  in 
Photography.  Tables  for  Enlargements  and  Reductions.  Equations  re- 
lating to  Foci.  Tables  of  Comparative  Exposures.  Freezing  Mixtures. 
Photographic  Patents  issued  1886.  Postage  Rates.  All  Tables,  Formulae, 
etc.,  brought  down  to  date  and  especially  prepared  or  revised  for  this  work. 

Price^  per  Copy,  SO  Cents,  By  mail,  10c.  extra. 
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ii 


THE 

American  Annual  of  Photography 

AND 

Photographic  Times  Almanac 
For  1888, 

C.  W.  O^lsriT'IEIL.r:),  Editor. 


It  contains  EIGHT  (8)  full-page  high-grade  Illustrations  ; 
and  over  NINETY  (90)  Original  Contributions,  written  expressly 
for  its  pages,  by  the  most  eminent  Photographic  writers  of  Europe 
and  America. 

THE  ILLUSTRATIOJfS  COMPRISE 

A  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPH,  showing  an  improved  new  pro- 
cess, by  the  Photogravure  Company  of  New  York. 

A  PHOTO-COPPERPLATE  ENGRATINO  of  a  Pictorial 
Landscape  Subject,  by  E.  Obernetter,  of  Munich. 

A  MEISENBACH  of  "  The  Old  Stone  Bridge,"  by  Kurtz. 

A  ZINC  ETCHING,  from  the  Engraving,  which  is  itself  as  fine 
as  an  engraving,  by  Stevens  &  Morris. 

A  CHARMING  CHILD  PORTRAIT,  by  Crosscup  &  West  s 
improved  process. 

THREE  MOSSTYPES  of  popular  subjects.  And 

NUMEROUS  CUTS,  DIAGRAMS,  Etc.,  throughout  the 
letter-press. 

The  "  Annual  "  is  a  yearly  publication  wherein  the  year's  progress  photographically 
in  the  world  at  large,  and  especially  in  America,  is  summarized,  and  improvements  in 
theory  and  practice  discussed  freely  by  the  prominent  workers  and  writers  in  this  and  other 
countries.  In  addition,  it  contains  an  almanac  and  calendar ;  lists  of  Amorican  and 
Foreign  photographic  societies,  with  their  officers  and  dates  of  meeting  ;  a  list  of  American 
and  Foreign  photographic  periodicals  ;  photographic  books  published  and  patents  'issued 
during  the  year  ;  approved  formulae  for  all  the  photographic  processes  now  in  general  use  ; 
and  the  usual  tables  of  weights  and  measures,  chemical  equivalents,  specific  gravities,  etc. , 
specially  revised  and  corrected. 

The  size — royal  octavo — and  style  of  binding  is  uniform  with  last 
year's  issue. 

330  pagfes  of  valuable  information. 

PAPER  COVER,  $0  50 

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iii 


TWO 

T] 

COMPLETE  ♦  PHOTI 


By  thk  r^^K 


The  Photographic  Negative," 

(Scovill's  Photographic  Series  No.  25.) 

A    PRACTICAL  GUIDE 

TO  THE  PREPARATION  OF  SENSITIVE  SURFACES  BY  THE 
CALOTYPE,  ALBUMEN,  COLLODION,  AND  GELATINE  PRO- 
CESSES, ON  GLASS  AND  PAPER,  WITH  SUPPLEMENTARY 
CHAPTER  ON  DEVELOPMENT,  Etc.,  Etc. 

CONTENTS. 

Chapter. 

Preface. 

I.   General  Remarks  on  Sensitive  Surfaces,  etc 
III    Calotyp?^*^  Remarks  on  Exposure,  Development,  Fixing,  etc. 

^Jt  mt'^^l^iJ^®  Surfaces  on  Glass-Preparation  of  the  Glass. 

V.  The  Albumen  Process. 

VI.  The  Old  Collodion  Process,  Wet  Plates. 

VII.  The  Collodion  Process,  Dry  Plates. 
t¥-  EmuIsion-CoUodio-bromide  of  Silver. 

IX.  The  Gelatme  Process. 

X.  Coating  the  Plates. 

XI.  Development,  Fixing,  etc. 

^ff'  ^^J?^*"  Negatives -Stripping  Films  on  Paper,  Card-board,  and  Collodion, 

xm.  Failures  m  the  Gelatmo-bromide  Process. 

XIV  Methods  of  Stripping  Films  from  Glass  Plates. 

XV.  Color-sensitive  Plates. 

XVI.  Black  and  White  Negatives. 

XVII.  Instantaneous  Photography. 

XVIII.  Touching-up  the  Negative. 

XIX.  Photo-micrography. 

XX.  Micro-photography. 

XXI.  The  Transformation  of  Negatives  into  Positives. 

XXII.  Obernetter's  Method  for  the  Direct  Productionof  Negatives  from  Negatives. 

It  contains  a  Meisenbach  Frontispiece  of  a  pictorial  subject  from  a 
negative  made  by  the  author.  Full  description  of  his  method  for  making 
the  Emulsion  ;  also,  much  other  valuable  information,  never  before  pub- 
lished. 

Profusely  illustrated  with  cuts,  two  full-page  pictorial  M.osstypes,  and 
more  than  two  hundred  pages  of  valuable  reading  matter. 


Price,  cloth  bound,  with  gilt  stamp  and  lettering,  $1.50. 

For  sale  by  all  dealers  in  photographic  goods,  or  sent,  post-paid,  by 
mail,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the  publishers, 

SCOVILL  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 


BOOKS  - 

•RM  A 

GRAPHIC  ♦  LIBRARY, 

?V.  H.  BURBANK. 


(Scoviirs  Photographic  Series,  No.  22.) 


A  Practical  Guide  for  the  Professional  and 
Amateur  Worker. 

A  volume  of  more  than   two  hundred   pa2[es,   profusely  illustrated. 
Thoroughly  Practical. 

CONTENTS. 

Chapter. 

Introduction— Theory  of  Light ;  Action  of  Light  upon  Sensitive  Compounds  ; 
Resume  of  Printing  Processes. 
I.   Printing  with  Iron  and  Uranium  Compounds. 
II.   The  Silver  Bath. 

III.  Fuming  and  Printing. 

IV.  Toning  and  Fixing— Washing. 

V.  Printing  on  other  than  Albumen  Paper. 

VI.  The  Platinotype. 

VII.   Printing  with  Emulsions. 
VIII.   Mounting  the  Prints. 
IX.   Carbon  Printing. 

X.   Printing  on  Fabrics. 
XI.  Enlargements. 

XII.   Transparencies  and  Lantern  Slides. 

XIII.  Opal  and  Porcelain  Printing. 

XIV.  Photo-Ceramics— Enameled  Intaglios. 

XV.  Photo  Mechanical  Printing  Methods. 

XVI.  Various  Methods  for  Putting  Pictures  on  Blocks  and  Metal  Plates  for  the  use  of 

the  Engraver. 

XVII.  Recovery  of  Silver  from  Photographic  Waste— Preparation  of  Silver  Nitrate, 

Etc. 
Index. 


The  only  book  in  photographic  literature  to-day,  which  covers  this 
ground,  and  it  does  so  completely. 

It  contains  two  (2)  full-page  illustrations,  which  alone  are  worth  the 
price  asked  for  the  complete  book. 

Price,  in  substantial  cloth   binding,  uniform  with 
"  The  Photographic  Negatiye,"  $1.00. 

For  sale  by  all  dealers  in  photographic  goods,  or  sent,  post-paid,  by 
mail,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the  publishers, 

SCOVILL  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 

V 


"  It  is  interesting  as  a  novel  and  of  vastly  more  value." — Rev.  W.  H.  Burbank, 


SeOYILL'S  PHOTOGRAPHIG  SERIES,  NO.  23. 

WRITTEN 

A  PRACTICAL  GUIDE  AND  INTRODUCTION  TO  ITS 
LATEST  DEVELOPMENTS. 

By   W.   JEROMH   HARK-ISOPiJ,  G.  S., 

AND  CONTAINING  A  FULL-PAGE  PORTRAIT  OF  THE  AUTHOR,  WITH  A 
BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

 o  o  o  o  o         o         o         o         o         o         o  o 

CONTENTS. 

Introduction, 

Chapter  I. — The  Origin  of  Photography. 

Chapter  II. — Some  Pioneers  of  Photography — Wedgwood  and  Niepce. 

Chapter  III. — The  Daguerreotype  Process. 

Chapter  IV, — Fox-Talbot  and  the  Calotype  Process. 

Chapter  V. — Scott-Archer  and  the  Collodion  Process. 

Chapter  VI.— Collodion  Dry  Plates,  with  the  Bath. 

Chapter  VII. — Collodion  Emulsion. 

Chapter  VIII. — Gelatine  Emulsion  with  Bromide  of  Silver. 

Chapter  IX. — Introduction    of    Gelatino-Bromide    Emulsion   as  an 

Article  of  Commerce  by  Burgess  and  by  Kennett. 
Chapter  X. — Gelatine  Displaces  Collodion. 
Chapter  YA. — History  of  Photographic  Printing  Processes. 
Chapter  XII. — History  of  Photographic  Printing  Processes(Continued). 
Chapter  XIII. — History  of  Roller-Slides  ;  and  of  Negative  Making  on 

Paper  and  on  Films. 
Chapter  XIV. — History  of  Photography  in  Colors. 

Chapter  XV. — History  of  the  Introduction  of  Developers — Summing  up 
Appendix. — Dr.  Maddox  on  the  Discovery  of  the  Gelatino-Bromide 
Process. 

 O  O  C)  o  o  o  o  o  o  o  o  o 

The  book  is  uniform  in  size  of  type  and  page  with  the  other  numbers 
of  Scovill's  well-known  Photographic  Series.  Bound 
substantially  in  cloth,  with  gilt  imprint. 

For  Sale  by  all  Dealers  and  the  Publishers,  I»Il.ICE,  OXE  001,1,  AR.  * 

SCOVILL  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 

"It  has  the  rare  merit  of  being  both  concise  and  comprehensive."* 
—  W.  H.  Sherjnan. 

vi 


The  Photographic  Instructor. 

Scovill's  Photographic  Series  No.  26. 


FOR  THE  PROFESSIONAL  AND  AlIATEUR. 


With  an  Appendix  by  Prof.  Charles  Ehrmann. 

The  most  thoroughly  practical  instruction  book  3'et  published  and  the 
most  complete,  consisting,  as  it  does,  of  the  Comprehensive  Series  of 
Practical  Lessons  issued  to  the  students  of  the  Chautauqua  School  of 
Photography,  revised  and  enlarged,  with  an  Appendix  of  over  thirty  pages, 
on  the  Nature  and  Use  of  the  Various  Chemicals  and  Substances  Employed 
in  Photographic  Practice,  besides  valuable  Tables  of  References,  etc. 

The  original  Lessons  were  contributed  by  such  competent  photographic 
writers  as 

Charles  Wager  Hull,  Siiperititendent  of  the  Chautauqua  School  of  Photog- 
raphy ;   Prof.  Randall  Spaulding,  Superintendent  of  the  Montclair 
Public  Schools ;    Prof.  Karl  Klauser,  of  Farmington^   Conn.  ; 
Dr.  Maurice  N.  Miller,  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York;  John  Carbutt,  the  well-kno2vn  Dry-plate  Manufac- 
turer of  Philadelphia ;    O.   G.   Mason,    of  Bellevue 
Hospital,  New  York  City;  Prof.  Chas.  Ehrmann, 
Instrtictor  of  the  Chautauqua  School  of  Photog- 
graphy ;   and   W.  L  Lincoln  Adams, 
Editor  of  the  Photographic  Times. 
Each  being  an  authority  on  the  subject  of  which  he  treats. 
The  Appendix  is  a  complete  chemistry  of  reference  in  itself,  and  is 
invaluable  to  every  photographic  worker. 

A  glance  at  the  complete  Table  of  Contents  show  the  scope  of  the  book  : 


Lessons, 


I. 
II. 

III. 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 

VII. 
VIII. 
IX. 

X. 
XI. 
XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 


Preface. 

Introduction. 

Apparatus. 

Management  of  Apparatus  in  the 

Field. 
The  Dark-room. 
Exposing. 
Developing. 

Fixing,  Washing.  Varnishing,  In- 
tensifying, and  Reductng. 

Printing  on  Albumenized  Paper. 

Printing  on  Various  Other  Papers. 

Printing  on  Permanent  Bromide 
Paper. 

Artistic  Printing. 

Trimming  and  Moun  ting  the  Prin  ts . 
Spotting  and  Burnishing  the  Prints. 
Portraiture. 

Retouching  the  Negative. 


Lessons. 

XV.    Photographing  Interiors  and  In- 
animate Objects. 
XVI.    Copying,  Enlarging,  and  Reduc- 
ing. 

XVII.    Orthochromatic,  or  Color-sensitive 

Photography. 
XVIII.    Transparencies,  and  How  to  Make 
Them. 

XIX.    Landscape  Photography. 
XX.    Stereoscopic  Photography. 
XXI.    Light  and  Lenses. 
XXII.  Photo-micrography. 

XXIII.  Photographing  by  Artificial  Light. 

XXIV.  Emulsion  Making. 

Appendix  on  the  Nature  and  Use 
of  the  Various  Chemicals  and 
Substances  Employed  in  Photo- 
graphic Practice. 


The  book  is  embellished  with  Five  Fttll-page  Pictorial  Illustrations,  besides  numer- 
ous Cuts,  Diagrams,  etc.,  illustrating  the  letter-press. 

Two  hundred  pages  of  valuable  Reading  Matter,  uniform  in  type  and  page  with  the 
other  numbers  of  the  excellent  series,  of  which  it  is  the  latest  issue. 

Price,  in  illuminated  paper  covers,     -       -       -     $0  75 
Price,  library  edition,  uniform  with  other  numbers 

of  the  series,  gilt  stamp  and  lettering,  -        1  25 

For  sale  by  all  dealers  in  photographic  goods,  or  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on 
receipt  of  price,  by  the  publishers, 

SCOVILL  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 


vii 


Photographic  Publications. 

Selected  from  Scovill's  Catalogue  of  Books. 

Price, 
Per  Copy. 

HOW  TO  MAKE  PHOTOGRAPHS.-Containing  full  instructions  for  making  Paper 
Negatives.    Sent  free  to  any  practitioner  of  the  art.    New  edition  fust  out. 

ART  RECREATIONS.— A  guide  to  decorative  art.  Ladies'  popular  guide  in  home 

decorative  work.    Edited  by  Marion  Kemble  $2  00 

THE  FERROTYPERS'  GUIDE.— Cheap  and  complete.    For  the  ferrotyper,  this 

is  the  only  standard  work.    Seventh  thousand   75 

THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  STUDIOS  OF  EUROPE.— By  H.  Baden  Pritchard, 

F.C.S.    Paper,  50  cts.  ;  Cloth   i  00 

PHOTOGRAPHIC  MANIPULATION.-Second  edition.   Treating  of  the  practice 

of  the  art  and  its  various  applications  to  nature.     By  Lake  Price   i  50 

HISTORY  AND  HAND-BOOK  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY.— Translated  from  the 

French  of  Gaston  Tissandier,  with  seventy  illustrations.    Cloth   2  50 

AMERICAN  CARBON  MANUAL.— For  those  who  want  to  try  the  carbon  print- 
ing process,  this  work  gives  the  most  detailed  information.    Cloth   2  00 

MANUAL  DE  FOTOGRAFIA.-By  Augustus  Le  Plongeon.    (Hand-Book  for 

Spanish  Photographers.)   Reduced  to   i  00 

SECRETS  OF  THE  DARK  CHAMBER.  -  By  D.  D.  T.  Davie   i  00 

HOW  TO  SIT  FOR  YOUR  PICTURE.-By  Chip.    Racey  and  sketchy   30 

THE  PHOTOGRAPHER'S  GUIDE.— By  John  Towler,  M.D.     A  text-book  for 

the  Operator  and  Amateur   i  50 

A  COMPLETE  TREATISE  ON  SOLAR  CRAYON  PORTRAITS  AND 
TRANSPARENT  LIQUID  WATER-COLORS  —By  J.  A.  Barhydt.  Practical 
ideas  and  directions  given.  Amateurs  will  learn  ideas  of  color  from  this  book 
that  will  be  of  value  to  them.  And  any  one  by  carefully  following  the  directions 
on  Crayon,  will  be  able  to  make  a  good  Crayon  Portrait   50 

THE  BRITISH  JOURNAL  ALMANAC  FOR  1888   50 

PHOTO.  NEWS  YEAR  BOOK  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY  for  1888   50 

CANOE  AND  CAMERA.— A  Photographic  tour  of  two  hundred  miles  through 

Maine  forests.    By  Thomas  Sedgwick  Steele.    Illustrated   1  50 

PADDLE  AND  PORTAGE.— By  Thomas  Sedgwick  Steele    i  50 

PRACTICAL  INSTRUCTOR  OF  PHOTO-ENGRAVING  AND  ZINC  ETCH- 
ING PROCESSES.— By  Alex.  F.  W.  Leslie   5c 

PHOTO-ENGRAVING  on  Zinc  and  Copper  in  Line  and  Half-Tone,  and  PHOTO- 
LITHOGRAPHY.   A  Practical  Manual,  by  W.  T.  Wilkinson.    Cloth  bound.  200 

AMERICAN  HAND-BOOK  OF  THE  DAGUERREOTYPE.— By  S.  D.  Hum- 
phrey. (Fifth  Edition.)  This  book  contains  the  various  processes  employed  in 
taking  Heliographic  impressions   10 

THE  NEW  PRACTICAL  PHOTOGRAPHIC  ALMANAC- Edited  by  J.  H. 

FiTZGIBBON   25 

MOSAICS  FOR  18^0,  1871,  1872,  1873,  1875,  1878,  1882,  1883,  1884  each,  25 

BRITISH  JOURNAL  ALMANAC  FOR  1878,  1882,  1883,  1887                         "  25 

PHOTO.  NEWS  YEAR-BOOK  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY  FOR  1871,  1882,  1887...  .  25 

THE  PHOTOGRAPHER'S  FRIEND  ALMANAC  FOR  1873   25 

viii 


Wilson's  Photograpllc  Publications. 

For  Sale  by  the  Scovill  Manufacturing  Company. 

Price, 
Per  Copy 

WILSON'S  QUARTER  CENTURY  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.- By  Edward  L.  Wil- 
son, Ph.D.  "The  best  of  everything  boiled  out  from  all  sources."  Profusely 
illustrated,  and  with  notes  and  elaborate  index  $4  oo 

WILSON'S  PHOTOGRAPHICS.-"  Chautauqua  Edition,"  with  Appendix.  By 
Edward  L.  Wilson,  Ph.D.  A  most  complete  photographic  lesson-book.  Covers 
every  department.    352  pages.    Finely  illustrated   4  00 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY.— By  Dr.  H.  W.  Vogel.  Revised  by 
Edward  L.  Wilson,  Ph.D.  Gives  special  consideration  to  Emulsion  Photog- 
raphy, and  has  an  additional  chapter  on  Photography  for  Amateurs.  Em- 
bellished with  a  full-page  electric-light  portrait  by  Kurtz,  and  seventy-two 
wood-cuts   3  00 

PICTORIAL  EFFECT  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.-By  H.  P.  Robinson  Fortheari 

photographer.    Cloth,  $1.50;  paper  cover    1  00 

BIGELOW'S  ARTISTIC  PHOTOGRAPHY,  with  photographs    4  00 

HEARN'S  STUDIES  IN  ARTISTIC  PRINTING,  with  photographs   3  00 

BURNET'S  HINTS  ON  ART.    A  fac  simile  reproduction  of  the  costly  original 

edition  •   4  00 

PHOTO-ENGRAVING,  PHOTO-ETCHING,  AND  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY. 
By  W.  T.  Wilkinson.  Revised  and  enlarged  by  Edward  L.  Wilson,  Ph.D. 
Illustrated.    180  pages.    Cloth  bound   3  oo 

PRACTICAL  GUIDE  TO  PHOTOGRAPHIC  AND  PHOTO-MECHANICAL 
PRINTING.  By  Prof.  W.  K.  Burton.  Amply  illustrated.  348  pages  Cloth 
bound   I  CO 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  PHOTOGRAPHER.— Edited  by  Ei.ward  L.  Wil.son, 
Ph.D.  A  semi-monthly  magazine,  illustrated  by  photographs.  $5.00  a  year ; 
club  rate  with  Weekly  Photographic  Times   6  5c 

THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  COLORISTS'  GUIDE.— By  John   L.   Gihon.  The 

newest  and  best  work  on  painting  photographs   i  5° 

WILSON'S  LANTERN  JOURNEYS.— By  Edw.\rd  L.  Wilson,  Ph.D.  In  three 
volumes.  For  the  Lantern  Exhibitor.  Give  incidents  and  facts  in  entertain- 
ing style  of  about  3.000  places  and  things,  and  travels  all  over  the  world  Per 
volume   •  •  •    2  ^ 

PHOTOGRAPHIC   MOSAICS,  1888.    Cloth  bound,  $1.00 ;  Paper  cover   so 

ix 


THE  AMERICAN  OPTICAL  COMPANY'S 


APPARATUS, 

INCLUDING  ALL  STYLES  OF 

Cameras  ;  Enlarging,  Reducing,  Copying  and  Multiply- 
ing Boxes;  Tripods;  Plate-Holders,  for  Wet  or 
Dry  Plates  ;  Printing  Frames  ;  Annateur 
Outfits,  etc.,  etc.,  has  long  been 

UNRIVALED  FOR  BEAUTY  OF  DESIGN, 
UNEQUALED  FOR  DURABILITY  OF  CONSTRUCTION, 

—  AND — 

UlTAPPROACHED  FOR  FINENESS  OF  FINISH. 

THEY  ALWAYS  GIVE  UNOUALIFIED  SATISFACTION. 

For  Sale  by  all  Reputable  Photographic  Dealers, 

AND  RY  THE  MANUFACTURERS, 

The  ScoviLLMiiNUFACTURiNG  Company, 

DEALERS  IN,   MANUFACTURERS  AND  IMPORTERS  OF  ALL 

Photographic  Materials  and  Requisites, 

423  BROOME  STREET,    -       -    NEW  YORK  OITY. 

W.  IRVING  ADAMS,  Agent. 

Send   lor  Latest  Catalogue. 

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